Clarke's First Law
by tinyrose65
Summary: Rose Weasley is stuck in Fred's World and the Doctor knows that getting her back is impossible. But then again, doesn't the universe just love to prove him wrong? Meanwhile, in her parallel universe, trouble is brewing for Rose on the other side of the wall. (Sequel to Clarke's Third Law.)
1. Prologue

_Where we last left off:_

_"Good luck, Doctor," Donna said simply. "I have a feeling you're going to need every, last, bit of it."_

_Almost as though it were acknowledging her words and agreeing with them, the TARDIS materialized one last time and gave a final wheeze._

_Then, she disappeared into the night and out of time itself. _

* * *

><p>Walking down the street, Rose Weasley (or 'Tyler', as her new I.D. said, since none of the Weasleys had officially survived the Cybermen attack and having Ron and Hermione's long lost daughter suddenly show up was bound to raise a few eyebrows) was not happy. First off, she was running late. Her alarm hadn't gone off and it had thrown her entire schedule off. She hadn't had time to drink her morning cup of tea or have any breakfast and, on her rush to work, one of her heels had broken.<p>

Oh, sure, she could fix it in a moment with a simple charm, but that didn't make it any less frustrating. She stopped short and leant down, putting her files on the floor, to take off her shoe. Holding it one hand, she took her wand out with another.

Doing magic in the middle of a crowded street was no big deal in Fred's World. It had taken Rose a while to get used to her new home, but she had slowly adjusted.

She had been here for about a year now- six months since that dreadful day on the beach. She cast it out of her mind. Those thoughts were reserved for lonely nights at home, when she could cry and hug her pillow and look at old pictures on her phone.

_Not _for the middle of the day on her way to work at Torchwood.

Torchwood.

Not too long after arriving in Fred's World, Fred had offered Rose a position at Torchwood. Rose had taken it, partially because she knew she had no better chance at finding the Doctor than Torchwood, partially because she wanted to make sure that Torchwood here didn't turn out like the one back home, and partially because she was extremely bored.

It certainly was an interesting place to work. It varied from boring days filled with paperwork to exciting days of alien invasions to long days filled with working on the Dimension Canon.

One way or another, she drank quite a bit of tea. This was because of Ianto, a lovely Muggle who worked under her as a sort of personal assistant. Almost all of the Wizard workers in Torchwood had one (a Muggle, that is).

Rose couldn't stand the practice, especially not after she got to know Ianto. Married to another Muggle named Lisa, they were expecting a baby soon. Ianto was smart, too. He knew quite a bit about people, but also a fair amount about politics, technology, and aliens.

He also knew the correct pronunciation of Splott.

So, Rose didn't usually have him run around and do her dirty work. Ianto helped her do research, work on the Dimension Cannon, and came with her during field work. He was her partner, not her assistant.

But he still made a mean cup of tea.

Most of the Muggles in this universe were actually very capable and well learned. There were a few who even rose to coveted positions, such as scientists or engineers.

Who else would come up with some of the fantastic Muggle technology that the wizards here used?

Still, most of them were forced to take jobs like Rose had taken at Weasley Manor: waiters and waitresses, janitors, shop workers.

Even after a year of living here, Rose still couldn't get used to the system.

Rose finished fixing her shoe and slipped it on. Straightening, she caught site of a large television screen in a shop window. A small crowd had gathered around it, watching the broadcast, and Rose understood immediately why.

_Speaking of Muggle rights..._

The Minister of Magic, Tom Riddle, was giving some sort of speech.

Although Britain had a president here, the position of Minister of Magic still existed, even if in a very different sense. Riddle worked closely with the President, the President had most of the legal power.

The position of Minister in Fred's World, Rose had learned, was more about influence. A position that was considered outdated by many in government, the Minster had few legal powers, but the name alone held a great amount of prestige. Anybody elected to the position had huge power over the opinions of voters.

Riddle had apparently used that power to further Muggle rights.

Rose eyed him curiously. She had seen pictures of Voldemort as a child in her universe. He had dark hair and dark eyes. This version of Riddle, though, was more fair, obviously having taken his mother's features, as opposed to his father's.

At least, that was Rose's theory.

Regardless, she heard nothing but good things for Riddle. For somebody who made so many enemies and done so many horrible things back home, he had made quite a name for himself as a do-gooder here. A controversial one, to be sure, but one nonetheless.

Riddle, who had held the position of Minister for several years, had made several calculated strikes against Wizarding Supremacy.

Before Riddle, for instance, Muggles were required to walk around wearing identification and carrying papers confirming they were Muggles. Now, though, after Riddle had removed that requirement, there was no way to tell (especially in large cities like London) who was Muggle and who was wizard. This meant equal respect for all people regardless.

Now, Riddle was working with the Muggle Representative to ensure equal working conditions for all. The Muggle Representative was a new position that Riddle himself had proposed, supported, and carried to vote only a few months before Rose arrived at Fred's World.

With his new zeal for equality between Muggles and wizards, Rose thought it obvious that Riddle must have gotten all of his daddy issues worked out.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, your Muggle Representative," Riddle introduced.

Shifting her files, Rose checked her watch. She really needed to hurry, so there was no time for her to catch the Muggle Representative's address to the people, but she did manage to catch a few words of it as she walked away.

"Thank-you, thank-you, ladies and gentlemen. As you know, I am your Muggle Representative and my name is Harold Saxon..."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Definitely much shorter than what I'm used to, but this is just the prologue. So...the sequel to Clarke's Third Law! Here it is! If you haven't read that, you should probably go read it first, just so you aren't hopelessly lost. <strong>

**Yes, I am aware that this is Clarke's First Law, and that I skipped second, but Clarke's First Law fit better for this story: "When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong." Still, I hope you enjoy it and stay tuned!**

**tinyrose65**


	2. Jack is Back

Back in his own universe, Jack Harkness was in a good mood. First off, his vortex manipulator had finally managed to get him closer to Earth- granted, by "closer" he meant in the same solar system and only several centuries off, but it was definitely an improvement.

On a slightly more optimistic (if not macabre) note, he had hadn't been killed in over a week. For a man who slept with as many men and women as he did (with little to no regard about whether or not they were married to rich and powerful men with tempers), that was quite a record. And, on a similar note, he had just finished a lovely night with some twins from Tiwali-7. Shame that they didn't want to spend another night. He had gotten up from bed and begun to search for his clothes, when suddenly he found himself in the middle of a place he never thought he'd be again.

The TARDIS control room.

A man was stroking the console slowly, mumbling soothing words to the ship. Jack reached for his _hidden _Sonic Blaster and pointed it at the stranger leaning against the console. The man sighed and looked unconcerned.

"Put that thing away, Jack."

"How do you know who I am?" he demanded. "Where is the Doctor?"

"It's me, Jack," the man said. "I'm the Doctor. Remember? We met during the London Blitz. You saved Rose from falling off a barrage balloon. She introduced me as Mr. Spock. Gas-mask kids. Nanogenes. Dancing. We're better because Rose says we are."

Jack didn't say anything. The stranger was obviously lying. Jack _knew _the Doctor- well, knew him well enough to recognize him. Leather jacket, close cropped hair, blue eyes. This stranger couldn't be more different, with his blue suit, brown eyes, and a ridiculous head of hair that made Jack think of not-so-innocent activities in bed.

"Stop looking at me like that," the man tutted. "I told you: not until after you buy me a drink."

But he knew things, Jack scowled, things that only the Doctor could have know. The Doctor might have been many things, but he wasn't a rat.

And that night in the library... that was something deeply personal for the both of them. It had touched them in a deep way and left them feeling raw- and not in a dirty way.

That night, the Doctor and Jack (and Rose, too) had all let themselves be vulnerable and trusted each other.

They never talked about it again, but they didn't need to. The next morning the two of them had woken up and met in the console room, along with Rose, but no words between them were needed. The Doctor, Jack, and Rose's relationship with each other had changed that night, after they had opened up to each other. It was the closest thing to a family that Jack had had in a long while.

And Jack knew that the Doctor _knew _how much that conversation in the library had affected him (the both of them) and Jack _knew _that the Doctor would never tell a soul about it- save for Rose, but even then he would have asked Jack's permission.

So how...

Something in the back of his mind sprung forth, a legend. An old story he had heard as a child, along with tales of werewolves and magic, about a powerful race of creatures that could, like the phoenix, die, but be reborn again, cheating death.

"I thought regeneration was a myth," the Jack said hesitantly.

The Doctor (and he _had _to be the Doctor, Jack realized, because nobody else could adopt that same expression of fond exasperation at the stupidity of the human race) raised an eyebrow.

"You thought Time Lords were just a myth, too, yet here I am, alive and two hearts both ticking away."

"Well in that case, Doctor," Jack said after he had recovered his shock and put his blaster down, "Is that a Sonic Screwdriver in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?"

"Some things never change," the Doctor said fondly.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Except for your face, it seems."

"My face?" the Doctor frowned. He lit up in realization and rubbed his jaw. "Oh, yes! It's brand new! What do you think? I've been I look sort of brown, slimmer, and a bit foxy.

"I like it," Jack grinned. "Not that it matters. You won't let me _dance_ with you, anyways."

"I let you _dance_ with everything else though," the Doctor pointed out reasonably.

Jack shrugged. "Not Rose. Where is she, anyways?"

"She isn't here," the Doctor said after a second. Jack frowned. Back when he had traveled in the TARDIS, the Doctor and Rose were nearly inseparable. He supposed things could have changed since the regeneration, but he had seen how far deep the Doctor had fallen. He found it unlikely.

Instead, he asked, "When will she be back?"

The Doctor swallowed. "She won't."

"What do you mean?" Jack said panicking. "She isn't-"

"No," the Doctor said. "She's alive. Safe and sound. Stuck in a parallel world."

Jack gaped. "How much did I _miss?"_

"Enough," the Doctor said simply. "I'll explain everything."

"Oh really?" Jack demanded incredulously. "Well that's definitely a change from leaving me stranded on a spaceship thousands of years in the future, isn't it?"

"I said I'd explain _everything, _Jack." The Doctor emphasized everything, hoping Jack would get the message.

After waking up on Satellite 5, after being _dead _he had been both confused and scared, something that was incredibly foreign to him. He was _Jack Harkness_. He didn't get scared.

Well, he did, but he never admitted it.

So, he personally considered it a very reasonable to want answers and an explanation for how he _came back from the dead _and _kept coming back _and just _wouldn't. Stay. Dead. _ And the Doctor, the only man who would know (and if he didn't know, he could damn well find out, Jack knew), was gone.

But now, Jack might finally get his answer and find out why had been so badly cursed.

Jack had never imagined that the Doctor would have _known _about his immortality- he always figured that he'd have to explain. Apparently, he was wrong because the Doctor was here and he was offering answers like he had known all along.

He better have an explanation for that, too.

"Everything?" He looked at the Doctor hopefully.

"Yes," the Doctor confirmed. He paused for a second, as though he had suddenly realized the state of Jack's undress. "But not until you put some clothes on, for heaven's sake."

"Do I have to?" Jack whined.

The Doctor said simply, "Your room is right where you left it. I'll be in the kitchen, making us some tea. It's a bit of a long story and I'm sure you're hungry."

Jack nodded and turned around to head towards him room. However, he couldn't resist wiggling his bum one last time and throwing the now red-faced Doctor a large wink.

Some things never changed.

As he walked towards his room, he ran into Al in the corridor.

"G' morning, Al," Jack said cheerfully.

"Jack," Al said with a nod of his head. Al walked a few more feet, then paused mid-step. He spun on his heel just in time to catch Jack turning the corner. He abandoned all dignity and sprinted towards the console room.

"Doctor!" Albus called, finding the alien in question in the kitchen, brewing tea, of all things. "Jack! I saw Jack here! I swear, I am not making this up-"

"I know you aren't," the Doctor said easily. "Jack is back. Hey that rhymes! Jack is back, Jack is back, Jackisback, is-back-"

"You said he was dead!" Albus accused. The Doctor's eyes widened, obviously fearing the young wizard.

"Technically, I said that he was busy rebuilding the Earth-"

"-which is a euphemism for dead!" Al argued. "You better have a damn good explanation as to why you left him stranded on a space station and let us all believe he's dead!"

"I have an explanation," the Doctor said finally, "But I'm not sure how good it is."

"Better than nothing," Al griped. "Usually you just tell us to trust you and go along with it while you blow something up."

"That's not true," the Doctor winced. "I don't always blow something up. And, to be fair, we're usually in the middle of an invasion or a revolution or whatnot and don't have time for nice, long chats. Oh, nice, long chats. I've never liked those, anyways. They always end up with people hurt or angry with me."

"Maybe you aren't doing them right," Al pointed out.

"That's why I'm trying to make tea. That always makes everything better." The Doctor said taking four cups from the cupboard.

Al waved him down. "Let me."

He waved his wand and the cups floated over to the table, along with the tea packets. The kettle began to whistle and the stove turned off as the water began pouring itself into each of the mugs, steaming.

"Show off," the Doctor pouted. Hugo walked into the room.

"I thought I heard the kettle. What exactly is going on?" Hugo asked, knowing that the Doctor rarely made tea, preferring to have somebody else (or the TARDIS, which Hugo supposed was sort of the same thing) do it for him.

"We're going to have a nice long chat!" The Doctor beamed. Then he grimaced. "Ah. I shouldn't be excited about this."

"We are?" Hugo asked doubtfully. The Doctor might have loved to talk this time around, but he wasn't exactly one for "feelings." Hugo suddenly grinned. "Have you found a way to get to Rose?"

"Not exactly," the Doctor said slowly. "I mean, I might have. I'm not sure. It'd be breaking about a billion laws in the universe- well, not quite a _billion_, but it'd be pretty high up there. And it'd be dangerous, but not in the "BOOM! Explosion!" sort of sense more in the "Whose idea was it to let that man anywhere _near _the weapons factory-""

"I'm still wondering about that," Jack asked with a sigh, breezing into the kitchen and plopping himself down in the chair. "I've only got that _one _sonic blaster, now, thanks to you, and I'll never be able to replace it if it breaks."

"Thank god," the Doctor shot back. "One less gun in the world."

"That's Jack," Hugo said, in shock, pointing at the Captain, who was now fully dressed, much to his own chagrin. "Jack is here."

"Yes, he is," Al said slowly, amusement creeping into his tone, as though he himself hadn't been completely shocked by the development a few minutes earlier, "And he's alive."

"Oh," Hugo said. Then he nodded. "Alright, then."

Hugo, the Doctor had noticed, had gotten much better at dealing with shocking and impossible situations after their first little jaunt in the Parallel World. He had dealt with his sister being stuck after the battle exceptionally well and, while the Doctor knew that he was still hurting, he also knew that he could be depended on when the time came to get her back.

"I'll need him," the Doctor explained, taking his own seat and indicating that Hugo and Al should do it as well. "If we want to get Rose back, I'll need his help. Only if he's willing, of course."

"Of course I am," Jack said with a snort. "I might be pissed at you, but that doesn't mean you aren't my friend anymore."

He took a sip of his tea. "This is good."

"Thanks," Al said with a grin.

"He used magic," the Doctor said with a smirk.

"Cheater," Jack said with smirk, taking another sip and shrugging his shoulder.

"Before we start talking about that, though, I think Jack has got some questions," the Doctor said, leaning forward. "Don't you?"

"A few, yea," Jack said, his smile dropping. "What happened to the Daleks? _Why_ did you leave me on the Gamestation? And why the _hell can't I die?"_

"You can't die?" Al said, looking decidedly alarmed. The one time he had heard of something similar was happening was with Voldemort and his Horcruxes. Jack would never do something like that though-

"It's not what you think, Al," the Doctor said, never taking his eyes off of Jack. "As for your questions, Jack, I can answer them all with just two words."

"And what would those be?" Jack asked doubtfully.

"Bad Wolf."

"Those two words that were following us around?" Jack said after a moment, remember all of the times he had seen or heard that phrase.

"Yes, but- and _here's_ the kicker!- Rose is the Bad Wolf!"

"I'm confused," Al whispered to his cousin.

Hugo, who had traveled with the Doctor longer than Al, snorted. "Get used to it."

"I don't understand," Jack said, rubbing his hand hard over his face. "I thought you had sent her home."

"He did," Al said quickly. "She came home and was absolutely ballistic, you know. Got it into her head that she was going to fly the TARDIS back to you."

"And once Rose gets something into her head..." The Doctor trailed off and shook his head. "She looked into the heart of the TARDIS and took all of time and space into her. No one's ever mean to have that power. If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god, a vengeful god. But she was human. Everything she did was so human. She destroyed the Daleks. She brought you back to life but she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life."

Jack wondered if Rose could change him back. He asked the Doctor.

"I doubt it. I took all of the power from her and removed the memory. I had to, or it could have killed her." The Doctor looked at Jack curiously. "Do you want to die, Jack?

Hugo and Al both flinched, but Jack just met the Doctor's gaze evenly.

He didn't say anything for a long while. Since he had first realized that he could not die, he had viewed it as a curse. At first, he had _wanted _to die, so badly. He had tried almost every form of suicide imaginable (and some that were quite original), but none worked. Eventually, he had resigned himself to living.

Jack had always assumed that when he found out why he had been given immortality, he would be angry at them, that he'd hate them for what they did.

But now...

He couldn't hate Rose. She was _Rose, _for one thing. For another, she had done what she did unintentionally, driven by a need to keep him safe and her love for him. After all, what better compliment was there than, "I love you so much I want you to be around forever?"

"I wanted to for a while," Jack admitted. He took a sip of his tea, but didn't really taste it this time around. "But now- I don't really know what I want. I always thought that if I ever found you, you'd be able to fix it."

The Doctor shrugged.. "Maybe, although it seems unlikely. Rose was never one to do things half-way, so I make you no promises. I'd have to do a bit of research. But what if I can't, Jack, what then?"

Jack smiled, just a shadow of his usual large, charming, grin. "I guess the world is just going to have to get used to having me around- including you."

"You're wrong, Jack," the Doctor said with a slight wince.. Seeing Jack's confused expression, the Doctor elaborated. "You asked me why I left you on the Gamestation. That's my answer. You're _wrong. _A fixed point in time. You shouldn't exist- _can't _exit. I felt you, and instinct kicked in, so I ran."

"You seem to be doing alright right now," Jack said bitterly. He wasn't quite ready to forgive the Doctor for that, just yet.

"Well, I had some time to get used to you, didn't I? And, back then, on the Gamestation, I wasn't exactly thinking as clearly as I am now- and neither was the TARDIS."

"See," the Doctor began, "I had just taken the Time Vortex from Rose. She was sick, I was dying, and the TARDIS had just had her heart taken out from her, so she wasn't exactly in ship-shape, either...heh, "ship-shape." Get it? Because she isn't? She's shaped like a telephone box?"

"Yes, Doctor," Jack said with an indulgent smile. "Go on."

"Well, here are the three of us, confused and lost and a bit sick, and out comes you! A fixed point, going against everything that feels _right _to anybody with a Time Sense."

"So you and the TARDIS," Jack elaborated.

The Doctor nodded. "I felt you. I wasn't thinking too clearly. I wanted to keep Rose safe and get somewhere that I could regenerate in peace- well, sort of. Regeneration for me is rarely peaceful- well, anyways, the TARDIS understood me. She always does. And she felt you, too. So, she took us away, as fast as she could. Next thing you know, I was regenerating and in a coma and then I was fighting Sycorax on a spaceship during Christmas."

"But what about after?" Jack pushed. He couldn't fault that Doctor for reacting out of instinct- especially not when that instinct was to protect Rose and the TARDIS, the two beings that meant the world to him. And, to be fair, the Doctor had been dying. He deserved a bit of a pass for that, too.

"I was a coward," the Doctor said bluntly. He was done with excuses. The Doctor had forgotten how much he had missed Jack, so he wasn't going to beat about the bush. Not to mention he needed all the help he could get if he was going to get Rose back. "I looked at what I had done and I was ashamed. So, I stretched the truth to Rose and Al and Hugo-"

"You mean you lied," Al butted in, eyes narrowed.

The Doctor winced and nodded slowly. "Yes, I did. I lied. And then, I did what I do best: I ran. And I never looked back."

Jack looked away, not really sure if he could face his friend at the moment. The Doctor wasn't having it. He reached across the table and touched Jack's hand to get his attention. Jack reluctantly turned to face him.

"Jack, I'm sorry. I'm so, very, sorry."

Jack blinked. "You never apologize."

"Well, I'm doing it now. And I mean it."

The Doctor was obviously uncomfortable with the situation, Jack noticed. He was shifting in his seat and had stopped drinking his tea a while ago. Still, it was the first time Jack had ever heard him say sorry to anybody who wasn't dying, which had to count for something.

Jack smiled at the Doctor. His full on, patented, could-charm-the-habit-off-a-nun smile. "Alright-y then, Doc. What's this plan of yours?"

The Doctor beamed back. This was going to be interesting.


	3. The Skasis Paradigm

"I still don't understand why you need me," Jack frowned. He watched as the Doctor finished straightening his tie. Hugo sat on the Captain's chair, concentration written all over his face, waving his wand over a strange, metal, cube.

"Alright, then let's go over this again," the Doctor sighed. "We've just materialized down the street from Deffry Vale High School."

"Right," Jack nodded. "I got that. I also understand that the last time you were here, which is right _now _in fact, you ran into the Krillitanes, who were trying to use some sort of code-"

"The Skasis Paradigm."

"-yea, that. They were trying to use the Skasis Paradigm to rewrite the universe in their image and take over the world and all of those other cliches."

"So far you seem to have gotten it," the Doctor chirped.

"Your idea," Jack said, arms crossed, eyeing the Doctor skeptically, "Is to sneak in there, steal the half-finished Skasis Paradigm, solve it, and then use it to cross the Void and get Rose."

"Got it in one!" The Doctor affirmed. He frowned. "Well, actually, that was really more like two, wasn't it? Since I had to explain it a few times for you to-"

"I just don't get," Jack interrupted, "Why you had to come find me to do this. You've got Hugo working on a Memory Cube so you can store the full code, and Al is here in case anybody get's hurt. So what exactly do I need to be here for?"

"You wouldn't understand," the Doctor said shortly. Then he left the room, mumbling something about last minute preparations. Al looked up from what he was doing (namely, looking on as Hugo worked).

"Are you complaining about the Doctor coming for you?" He asked Jack.

Jack smirked, but Al glared at him, preventing Jack from saying something _quite _inappropriate. "Be serious."

"It's your own fault!" Jack defended. "You can't say something like _that_ and expect me to ignore it!"

Al raised an eyebrow and Jack huffed. "Fine. To answer your question- _seriously: _Of course not. But you can't blame me for wondering why _now? _It's been years on _both _of our ends._"_

"He trusts you," Al said simply.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jack raised an eyebrow.

"It's because he needs you to stop him," Al said, speaking quietly so the Doctor wouldn't overhear. He hopped up onto the console, making sure not to sit on the Big Red Button that Al was pretty sure would destroy them all.

"Stop him from doing what?" Jack demanded, walking closer. "And don't worry about that button. All it does is turn on the radio."

Al pressed it and, sure enough, soft music began to play. Hugo lifted his head and made a face. "Turn that off! I'm trying to concentrate."

Al pressed the button and the music shut off.

"Albus," Jack repeated firmly. "What did you mean?"

"You didn't see him, Jack," Al sighed sadly. "After Rose left, you didn't see him. He almost killed himself in grief and rage. He'd deny it, of course, but he did. He murdered innocent children he was so lost in his grief, and there was nothing Hugo or I could do to stop him."

"And you think I could?" Jack asked. "Stop him, I mean?"

"He trusts you, like I said." Al shrugged. "You and he were pretty close, the last time I checked. As close as he and Rose were. Minus that whole, madly in love with each other thing."

"Yea, on his end," Jack said drily. Al gave Jack a sympathetic look, which he ignored. Jack loved Rose and the Doctor both, but he had learnt a long time ago that it would take a better man than him to get between them (in more ways than one) and would be more than happy with just their friendship. He didn't need Al's pity. Besides, he knew better than anybody that there were plenty more fish in the sea.

Still, knowing that the Doctor wanted him here because he _trusted _him, even if he was "wrong"-

Jack couldn't describe it.

"How do you know all that? It's not like the Doctor to go around being all touchy-feely." Jack asked Al curiously. He hadn't spent that much time with Al and, aside from knowing that he was a Healer at St. Mungo's and Rose's best friend, he knew very little about him.

He was, however, impressed by Al's ability to interpret the Doctor's behavior. Behavioral analysis was considered a valuable skill at the Time Agency. Jack had always been pretty good at it, but even _he _couldn't read the Doctor.

"Comes with the territory, I suppose," Al shrugged. "I work mostly with kids, and you have to be able to read them and watch them and know where they're coming from to keep them calm. It helps with the parents, too."

"Forget healer," Jack mused. "With a gift like that, you should be a shrink."

Al snorted. "Well, they tend not to like their shrinks to be insane and, with my pedigree, it was pretty much guaranteed that I would be a bit... out there."

"Your dad did some pretty crazy stuff," Jack said with a laugh as he recalled some of the stories Rose had told him. "God help us all if he and the Doctor ever ended up in a room together."

"The world'd end!" Hugo quipped, getting into the spirit of things now that he had finished the Memory Cube.

"I'm not that bad," the Doctor whined, hopping back into the room on one foot so he could tie one of his trainers.

"At least Uncle Harry never went looking for trouble," Hugo pointed out, remembering an old family joke. "Trouble usually found him."

"Deny it all you want, Doctor," Jack snorted, "But we all know that you love a bit of trouble."

"Well, I admit it spices things up a bit," the Doctor said delicately, going to the console, "But there is nothing wrong with wanting a bit of adventure!"

"There are other ways of spicing things up, Doc," Jack said with a lascivious grin. "I would know. If you need some tips, though, I'd be happy to give you a demonstration."

"I think I'll stick with saving the world, thanks," the Doctor said, wrinkling his nose in honest-to-god contemplation. "It's good exercise."

"Who's to say you wouldn't get any exercise with my method?" Jack asked with a grin.

"Oh, good!" The Doctor said quickly. "It's time to go."

The three convened around the Doctor and Hugo handed him the Memory Cube. "It's been modified with magic so it should be able to contain the entire code- well what's been completed by now- without being detected by the computer system."

"Brilliant! I mean, obviously I could have made one on my own, in much less time- " The Doctor paused. "Was that rude of me?"

"Yes," the three men replied, Hugo more hotly than the others. The Doctor shrugged, not bothered, and went back to fiddling with the cube.

"Why are you getting the code now?" Al asked. "Why not wait a few days until it's further along and save yourself some work?"

"Things get a bit too hectic later on," Hugo explained. "He's less likely to run into himself or Sarah-Jane or one of the Krillitanes or, Merlin help us, himself, this way."

"Better have a bit more work than risk Reapers," the Doctor said with a nod. "Rose would kill us when she got back."

"We can't have that," Al said with a smirk.

The Doctor hopped over to the TARDIS door and opened it, deciding that he needed to head out before he lost his nerve.

"Allons-y!" He cried with a wave, before shutting the door behind him.

The day was bright and sunny, with a warm breeze. Birds were singing, bees were buzzing, and butterflies were flitting around happily. The Doctor wistfully thought back to a time when a day like today would mean chips and hand-holding and cuddles with Rose.

_Soon,_ the Doctor said firmly. _Just a bit further._

It didn't take long at all to reach the school. A few well aimed flicks of his screwdriver put the cameras out of commission and he was able to easily unlock the school doors. He snorted, remembering in a few days, Hugo would drive a car through them both.

He had timed his visit so that he would arrive while the students were in classes, just before lunch. He had at least a few hours to upload the solved portions of the code to the Memory code, then leave.

He might even have time to grab a snack, the Doctor thought happily, as he watched the progress bar on the computer screen fill up steadily. He sent a mental thanks to Hugo for his love of efficiency.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor looked up and froze like a deer caught in the headlights. Rose stood in front of him, her forehead wrinkled in confusion. Her mouth moved, but the Doctor didn't hear any words. All his brain could process was that Rose, _his _Rose, was standing in front of him, unharmed and alive. So _gloriously _alive that it almost hurt to think about.

It was too much to know that, even as Rose stood in front of him, the Rose in _his _timeline was stuck in a Parallel World, waiting for him. Well, hopefully waiting for him. He didn't like to think about the possibility that she had given up on him.

Rose had to know that he would never stop until he brought her home. She just _had to. _

_But now you have a chance to tell her..._

He took several steps towards her and grabbed her firmly by the shoulders. "Rose, you trust me, don't you?'

"Of course I do," Rose said immediately. Doctor felt as though a huge weight was lifted off of his shoulders. She said something else, but the Doctor didn't hear. He was too busy choosing his next words carefully. They had to be said and they had to be perfect.

"Rose, I promise, no matter where you are, no matter how long it takes, I will not stop until I find you," the Doctor said urgently, looking her in the eye so he would now how serious he was.

Hopefully she'd remember them and take them to heart. He could focus a bit more, now that the words (not _the _words, though) had been said, on the fact that she was right in front of him. He could feel her heat beneath his fingers, her pulse, her heartbeat.

"Find me?" Rose asked, nose scrunching up adorably. "Doctor, I'm right here. Are you-"

He didn't let her finish because she was right. She was_ right here_. He didn't know how long it would be until he got her back (and he would get her back, it was an immutable fact). He needed her closer, as close as he could get her, so he kissed her.

Rose froze for a moment beneath him, but, after a bit of gentle prodding on his end, she eagerly began to kiss him back. The Doctor held her desperately. He needed this moment more than he himself could even understand. The Doctor could feel the rise and fall of her chest and her vanilla perfume wrapped around them both.

He was content to remain in this position for the rest of time- or longer.

Rose did something new with her tongue. _Oh, yes. Definitely longer. _He began to work gently kisses down her jaw and towards the junction where her neck met her shoulder. He had fantasized about that little piece of skin for too, too long, and it tasted far sweeter than he ever could have imagined, he noticed, as he nipped it lightly. Rose gasped, which he took as a good sign.

He went back to her mouth and pulled her closer.

_Why _hadn't he done this sooner?

The Doctor mustered up the last semblance of his self-control and broke away from the kiss. He took a deep breath, not knowing how long it would be until he was this close to her again.

When the Doctor opened his eyes, the sight that greeted him was one that he would never forget: Rose Weasley, looking understandably surprised, chest heaving as she worked to catch her breath. Her hair was mussed and her lips were slightly swollen.

"Well, then," the Doctor said, voice hoarse. "Alright. I should be going."

He reached to pick up the Memory Cube from table, unplugging it from the computer. He placed it in his pocket. The Doctor had to leave quickly, knowing that another moment here and he might not be able to leave without changing the timeline. He ran out the room and heard Rose call behind him, "Doctor! It's lunch time! The cafeteria is the other way!"

"Oh, don't worry about me!" He called back to her. "I'm just taking a short-cut!"

The Doctor didn't dare look back. He turned a corner and headed towards the back door and the TARDIS. The journey seemed a lot quicker this time around, even if it had seemed rather fast the first time around, too.

He shut the door behind him quickly, and then took several deep breaths, gasping as though he had just finished running from an angry horde of Slitheen. Only Jack was in the console room. He looked up when the Doctor came inside.

"Did you do it?" Jack asked.

_"Do what?" _The Doctor squawked defensively. He eyed Jack shiftily. How did he _know? _Was it something about having slept with almost every man and woman on this side of the solar system? Did it make him have some sort of _radar_? It really would be rather interesting to test, as long as he wasn't the subject-

"Get the code?" Jack said slowly.

The Doctor blinked. "Oh. Yes. I did."

"Great," the Jack nodded. "All you have to do now is solve it. Easy, right?"

The Doctor didn't make a note of Jack's joke. He looked too distracted. Jack frowned. "Doctor? Are you alright?"

"I kissed her," the Doctor burbled out. Jack raised an eyebrow. "Rose, I mean. I didn't mean to, but she saw me and she was so adorable doing that thing she does when she's confused where she wrinkles up her nose and she was so _alive _and so _close _that I couldn't help it."

"Alright, alright," Jack soothed. "It's okay. No harm done. She doesn't know you're from the future-"

"Agh!" The Doctor made an incomprehensible sound of frustration at this new revelation and tugged hard at his hair. "She doesn't! And I didn't know that I had kissed her in the future and went on as if everything was the same! Worse than that, I invited her brother on board and then went off to snog Madame de Pompadour!"

"Who?" Jack asked, now completely lost.

"Jack, what do I do?" The Doctor looked so hopelessly pathetic and lost that Jack would have found it endearing, if he didn't feel so bad for him.

Jack reached for the Doctor's jacket pocket and swiftly pulled out the Memory Cube. He shoved it into the Doctor's hand. "Get to work. The sooner you solve this, the sooner we can get to Rose, and the sooner you can make it up to her."

"Yes, right, of course," the Doctor mumbled, wandering off into the bowels of the TARDIS (to his room, if Jack was to guess). Jack sighed and shook his head fondly. The Doctor might be the smartest man in the universe, but he obviously knew nothing about women.

Jack didn't expect to see the Doctor much while he worked on solving the paradigm.

He was right.

Several weeks passed by slowly. He, Hugo, and Al spent their time exploring the many and varied rooms of the TARDIS while the Doctor spent his days either in his own bedroom or the console room, working and muttering to himself. They didn't bother him.

It was on one such day that the three were having breakfast.

"I found a room with dodgems yesterday," Hugo commented offhandedly. "We could have a go at those."

"Maybe later," the Doctor said chirpily walking into the kitchen, a spring in his step. The three at the table gaped at him, not used to seeing him outside his room.

"G'morning, Doctor," Jack said finally.

"It's a brilliant morning, Jack! Not just good! Remember that!"

"I take it you finally solved the last piece of the Paradigm?" Hugo asked hopefully. The Doctor's grin answered the question for him.

"So, when can we leave for Fred's World?" Al asked.

"Oh, we've already landed," the Doctor said offhandedly. He hopped out of the kitchen and into the console room. Al, Hugo and Jack followed.

"It was that easy?" Al frowned.

"The God Maker." The Doctor said firmly. "What part of that is so hard to understand? Honestly, crossing the Void was child's play thanks to the Paradigm. Easy. After crossing, I adapted the TARDIS to run on the energy in this world. Then I set the TARDIS coordinates as I would back home and here we are!"

"Really?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow, the anticipation building within him. The Doctor frowned at his tone and pointed at a screen in the console room as evidence. Jack nodded, seeing that yes, they had landed in Fred's World.

"You sounded doubtful."

"Well, usually, your landings are much more-" Jack winced. "-Obvious."

"My landings are perfect!" The Doctor said imperiously, shrugging on his coat and picking up his sonic screwdriver. "Got everything? Wand, shoes, trousers? Alright!"

The Doctor didn't wait for them to answer in the affirmative, his excitement over finally finding Rose building. Thankfully, Hugo, Al, and Jack were all prepared with the essentials, knowing better than to travel otherwise when with the Doctor.

The Doctor opened the door, Jack, Al and Hugo right behind him. A slightly manic smile spread across his face, the Doctor stepped outside and right into-

Spears.

A lot of them

The foursome found themselves surrounded by a group of Native Americans, dressed in traditional garb. They raised their hands in surrender.

"Huh," the Doctor said, sounding a bit perplexed. "Looks like we're in North America- sometime during the early 1400s, before Europe colonized it, at least, if the history of Fred's World is anything like our own. I might have been a bit off."

"You think?" Al groused.

The Doctor made a face. "This might be a bit more difficult than I thought."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So sorry for the long wait, but this chapter just didn't want to be written! I thought I'd get quite a few chapters out over winter break, but I didn't. Now that school's started, though, my muses have returned...maybe I write best under pressure? Anyways, I'm still not completely happy with this chapter, but it was the best I could do.<strong>

**Review and subscribe!**

**tinyrose65**


	4. The Crack

Rose entered the doors of Torchwood and entered the lift. She winced as the blue scanner quickly catalogued her arrival, the bright light always hurting her eyes. The charm worked by identifying who had entered the lift (or cataloging them as visitors) and then moving a lift to the desired floor.

Rose braced herself as the lift jerked to a stop and exited quickly. She grinned when she saw Ianto waiting for her with a cup of coffee. "You have brilliant timing," she complimented.

He smirked knowingly. "I know."

Rose laughed as they walked towards the office where they worked. Most employees didn't have their own offices, but Rose, as the head of the Dimension Cannon project, had earned her own.

Quite a few employees at Torchwood, of course, assumed it was because Rose and Fred were incredibly close. In fact, several of the tabloids had suggested that they might even be sleeping together. When they heard this, Rose and her uncle burst out laughing. It was both ridiculously disgusting and absolutely ludicrous at the same time.

Needless to say, Rose and her Uncle were quick to put those rumors to bed, but even now some employees were still doubtful.

Thankfully, Ianto was not one of them.

Rose grinned. "And so humble. So what's on the schedule for-"

Rose was cut off by a loud scream. This was followed by a crash and Scorpius Malfoy coming out of his office, his poor assistant following helplessly. Rose's mouth dropped as she realized what he was screaming about.

His hair.

Instead of its usual pale blonde, it was bright red and gold.

Rose had few problems with the Scorpius in her universe. He was alright (for a Malfoy) and she had even dated him for a while, before Jimmy.

The Scorpius here, though, was as much of a jerk as his father had been (at least, from what she had heard about him from _her_ father). So, to be honest, she felt no sympathy towards him

Instead, she turned to Ianto and asked, "How did _that _happen?"

"Apparently somebody put something in his coffee and it turned his hair Gryffindor colors," Ianto said innocently- too innocently.

"You didn't!" Rose gasped.

"You told me not to take crap from him anymore!" Ianto defended.

Rose stuttered. She _had _said that. Scorpius was a bully, especially to the Muggles around here, and they shouldn't have to put up with him.

"Yes, but I meant stand up for yourself, not-" Rose waved her hand towards a still fuming Scorpius- "sabotage and subterfuge!"

They burst into giggles as Scorpio went off into another rant and left quickly. When the reached the office, Rose closed the door behind them and sunk down into the plush, faded couch she kept off to the side.

Aside from the couch, the office was small, well lit, and sparsely furnished. Two desks, chairs, a potted plant, and piles of paper. Both she and Ianto preferred to keep their private lives private, and in an office surrounded by large, glass, windows, that meant keeping personal items to a minimum.

Rose began to rub her temples, trying to hold off the impeding head-ache. They had become more and more frequent these past few weeks. She had also been prone to frequent bouts of nausea and stomach pain. Still, Rose just chalked up to overworking herself.

Ianto sat down next to her and eyed her hesitantly. Now would not be the best time to broach the subject, she would find out soon enough. Torchwood employees talked, after all. It was better that Rose found out from him than anybody else, and she needed to know sooner rather than later.

"Rose, before we get started on what we need to do for today, there is something you ought to know," he said hesitantly.

Rose opened her eyes and groaned, throwing her head back in frustration. "I know I'm not going to like this."

"It's not a bad thing," Ianto encouraged. "Just...odd."

"Alright," Rose sighed. "Now I know I'm _really _not going to like this."

"There's a crack in The Wall," Ianto said.

Rose asked blankly, "What wall?"

Ianto raised an eyebrow and Rose sat up straight. "What? Show me!"

She didn't wait for Ianto to explain anything else, instead choosing to burst out of her office and head quickly down for the hall into the lift. Ianto managed to follow her just as the doors closed.

He pointed out, "It's not what you think, Rose. It's just a crack."

"I need to see it," Rose saids firmly, and the matter was dropped.

It took several minutes for the lift to finally take them to the right floor, since it was a busy time of the day. During that time, Rose couldn't help the nervous flutter in her belly.

Sure, Ianto said it was just a crack, but what if it wasn't? What if it was something more? What if it was her way back home?

Her way back to the _Doctor_?

The lift finally opened at the right floor and Rose stepped out, Ianto right behind her. Rose, ignoring the whispers of the workers on the floor, took the familiar route to The Wall, as it had become known to most working at Torchwood.

The room containing The Wall no longer held any real purpose. Now just a white, empty, room, nobody really felt right working there.

Whether it was because of what had happened or because of some lingering after-effect of the Void, Rose didn't know.

Rose did know that she herself never liked to spend much time in the room, but that probably had more to do with the fact that this room was where she had lost the Doctor and her family than anything else.

Standing outside the door to the room, Rose had to take a deep breath and calm herself. Ianto didn't say anything, respectfully waiting for her to gather her thoughts. When she was ready, she opened the door and was greeted with-

A crack.

A normal, boring, run-of-the-mill crack.

Rose wasn't really sure what she had been expecting, especially not after Ianto's warning.

Maybe a big, gaping, hole in the wall.

Maybe a gateway back home.

Or maybe just something, _anything, _more mysterious looking than the crack that she was staring at now.

Ianto apologized. "I told you it was just a crack."

"Yea," Rose said softly, "You did. Silly of me to get all worked up."

"It's not," Ianto assured her. Although Rose's story (that she was really Fred's niece from a parallel-world, stranded here after the Battle of Canary Warf) was classified and only Fred and his (now, wife) Jackie knew, it hadn't taken Ianto long to find it all out.

He had confronted her one day in her flat and Rose had admitted everything- mainly because she was so _sick _of not having anybody to talk to. Sure, Fred was understanding, and Jackie, too (to an extent), but Rose knew that Fred still felt odd about the whole situation and had yet to come to terms with it, even if he had been incredibly helpful in getting her set up in her new home.

Now that Ianto knew everything, Rose had somebody to talk to who knew when to shut up and listen and when to give her advice.

This was one of those, "shut up and listen" moments.

Well, maybe just a "shut up" moment, since Rose didn't say anything.

She walked up to the wall and gently placed her hand on the crack, fingering it gently. It really did look like a crack. It felt like a crack. Then why couldn't Rose just accept that it was just a crack?

"When are they going to have somebody down to repair it?" Rose asked Ianto, turning around.

Ianto straightened and tried to remember what he had heard. "Actually, they had a man down here from maintenance earlier, but the Charm wouldn't stick. They're calling in some Muggles to do it the Muggle way tomorrow."

"The Charm won't stick?" Rose asked, surprised. She turned to look at Ianto, who just shrugged.

"No, but is that really surprising?" He asked. "Magic has never worked right in this room since-"

Rose nodded, not needing him to finish the sentence.

Another reason why nobody used this room anymore was that magic here could be... sticky, at best. The staff had tried to make do at first, but when one of them had accidentally apparated to Cuba while performing a routine Levitation Charm, the administration had decided that enough was enough.

"Still. Is Fred going to have anybody look into it further? Maybe run some tests or something?"

"I don't think so," Ianto said slowly, knowing that this would not make Rose happy in the least.

"Why not?" Rose demanded.

Ianto winced at her shriek. "He didn't see a need."

"Well, _I _see a need." Rose snapped.

Before Ianto could (carefully) tell her that she was being irrational, Rose left in a huff. Ianto grimaced. Two angry Weasleys- even if one was from another universe- never ended well for anybody.

Rose gave a curt nod to the secretary sitting outside Fred's office. She stood up when she saw Rose and stuttered apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Tyler, but Mr. Weasley is busy. Can I take a-"

Rose didn't listen and barged right in.

The secretary sat down weakly. "-message?"

When Rose entered Fred's office, he was in the middle of a phone call, leaning back in his chair, feet on the desk, twiddling his wand- the perfect picture of a leisurely business man. Rose had been surprised when she learned that he was taking control of Torchwood, especially considering his love for the joke shop, but after losing his entire family against an alien invasion, he had a particular vendetta against them.

He held up a finger and Rose rolled her eyes, but nodded and sat down in one of the chairs. While Fred finished up, Rose took a chance to look around the office.

Unlike the office she shared with Ianto, Fred's was dressed to the nines with pictures of friends and family- most of whom had perished over a year ago.

It was so bizarre to think that it had only been 18 months since the first time Rose had met Fred. At that time, he hadn't even believed that Rose was from another universe. Since she had come to live here, though, she and Fred had grown to share a bond similar to the one she shared with her Uncle George...if not a bit more complicated because of the whole "The version of you from my world is dead/doesn't exist" issue.

She had heard story after story from Uncle George in her world about Fred. It taken some time for her to get used to seeing and hearing and knowing Fred, even though he was sort of dead. Every now and then Fred would send looks her way that told her he was similarly conflicted.

Together, she, Fred, Jackie, and their newborn son Teddy made a small, oddball sort of family. Fred and Jackie had gotten together shortly after Rose and the Doctor had first left the parallel-world. They married a few months after the Battle of Canary Warf and had given birth to Teddy.

Rose, who had been living with Fred at the time, had moved out at that point. She had nothing against her little parallel-cousin, but she wanted to give the new family a chance to be a family together.

Still, Jackie, who had one of the largest mothering streaks Rose had ever seen, always made sure that Rose knew she was welcomed at the home.

Rose was broken out of her thoughts when Fred hung up the phone and sighed, sitting backwards in his chair. He propped his feet up on the desk.

"What are you going to do about the crack in The Wall?" Rose asked, not giving him a chance to relax. He scowled and stood up.

"'Hello, Fred. How are you today?' Fine, thanks for asking. And you?" He muttered sarcastically, waving his wand to start boiling some water for tea.

"I was doing alright until I heard about the crack," Rose retorted, refusing to be intimidated. "Are you really going to do nothing?"

"Yes," Fred said firmly, "because there is nothing to do. And do you have to always burst in here like that? We just got those rumors settled. We don't need more people thinking we're sleeping together again."

"'Again?'" Rose snorted. "They never really stopped. And what do you mean there's nothing to do? There's a crack in The Wall!" Rose argued.

"Merlin's beard, Rose, it's just a crack!" Fred argued. "It isn't a way back home. It's just a crack in the paint or something."

"Then why won't magic work on it?" Rose demanded. She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Magic has never worked right in that room," Fred pointed out.

Rose, deciding to ignore this completely valid point, retorted. "So? Better safe than sorry! Always be prepared! And- well, no, that's about it, isn't it?"

"Don't fix what isn't broken," Fred said firmly.

"Not broken?" Rose asked incredulously. "There is a _big, gaping, _crack in The Wall!"

Alright, perhaps this was a bit of an exaggeration.

"It's not big or gaping," Fred said, "And it's not important."

"Uncle Fred," Rose begged.

Fred shook his head. "Rose, I'm sorry, but I honestly can't spend money on investigating a crack in a wall that probably isn't anything. I'm already allocating a crazy amount of money on that Dimension Cannon project- and how is that going?"

Rose shifted. "It's- going."

Fred made a doubtful noise in the back of his throat. "That's what I thought. Not to mention all of these new restrictions on Muggle rights. We're due for review, did you know that? Any day now a government official could come in and rate us on our treatment of Muggles. Everything has to be in tip-top shape. Do you understand?"

"Of course I do," Rose said with a frown. "I just-"

"I know you want to get home," Fred said carefully. "I know you miss your family."

He didn't mention the Doctor's name, which Rose was grateful for.

"I just- can't. I am sorry."

Rose didn't say anything. She just nodded quietly and turned to leave.

"So am I, Uncle Fred. So am I."

When Rose entered her office again, Ianto was already waiting for her. He offered her a sympathetic smile, not needing for her to tell him what had happened.

"Sorry, Rose."

Rose gave him a tired smile, her exhaustion (it wasn't even lunch yet! She shouldn't be this tired) creeping up on her.

"It's alright," she assured. "I should have listened to you."

"Look, Rose," Ianto said, "I know you're upset, but this might be a good thing. If it is just a crack, then it'll be gone in a few days. If it turns out to be more, we'll know soon enough."

"I just hate doing nothing," Rose grumbled, not caring that she was sounding like a whiny, Slytherin, first-year.

"Oh, you won't be doing nothing," Ianto assured. He smirked and waved his hand at the desk, where several piles of paper were resting. "You have plenty of work to do."

Rose laughed.

Ianto always knew what to say to cheer her up.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm sorry I made y'all wait so long for such a short chapter, but writer's block, plus SAT prep, plus the 1 year anniversary of <em>Harriet Potter <em>coming up (meaning I had to make sure that I had a chapter ready to post on 2/4) meant that this chapter took forever to get out, and I still don't like it. On the upside, the next chapter is shaping up to be _much _better. Hope you enjoy and hope you enjoyed Scorpius's little cameo.**

**tinyrose65**


	5. Conversations and Revelations

It had become weekly tradition for Rose to go visit Ianto and Lisa at their small flat for dinner. Lisa enjoyed having Rose over, appreciating the presence of a witch her own age that didn't look down on her, especially considering how hormonal she was these days.

Ianto, bless him, had been nothing but understanding and caring and perhaps the best husband she could ask for, but Lisa found herself craving some female company that day, so she was thrilled when, several hours before dinner was set to start, Rose knocked on the door.

"Rose!" Lisa gushed, opening the door wide for her. Rose, tucking her wand into her wrist holster, smiled gratefully and entered, pausing to give the now very-pregnant Lisa a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I was just about to start on dinner," she explained, leading Rose to the kitchen. Rose took a seat at the small kitchen table and smiled a bit as Lisa dashed about. Rose felt a pang of longing for her own mother.

Her expression must have come across on her face because Lisa placed a steaming cup of tea down on the table with a sympathetic smile.

"How are you?" Rose asked kindly. Lisa, at about 22 weeks along (or a little over 5 months), was definitely beginning to feel the pains of her pregnancy.

"The morning sickness has stopped," she admitted, "but he-or she- they, I suppose, have become quite active. It's getting a bit difficult to sleep."

Rose made a sympathetic noise. "I know. I've been having trouble sleeping, too."

"Bad dreams?" Lisa asked. Rose shook her head.

"Not really," she admitted. "It's the headaches. And nausea. And the queasiness. It's been going on for a while, actually."

"Have you seen a healer?" Lisa asked hesitantly.

Rose shook her head. "Not yet. Suppose I should do, though."

"Yes," Lisa said carefully. Rose raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Have you ever considered the fact that you might be-"

"Might be what?" Rose laughed.

"Well," Lisa lowered her voice for some odd reason, "pregnant."

Rose choked on her. After she had gathered herself, she couldn't help the fact that she started to laugh. Lisa frowned at her and muttered, "I was being serious."

"I know you were," Rose said giggling. "That's why it's so funny- I haven't _been _with anybody since before I started traveling with the Doctor."

"Are you sure?" Lisa asked skeptically.

Rose frowned confusedly. "That's not exactly something that you're unsure about."

"I don't know!" Lisa argued. "No weird, alien, sex practices-"

"No, trust me," Rose snorted. "I'm sure the Doctor or Jack or the TARDIS or _somebody _would have warned me about _those_."

Lisa laughed and took Rose's empty mug away from her, placing it in the sink. "Well, even if you're sure-"

"I am," Rose assured.

"-you still might want to see a healer."

Rose nodded and Lisa gestured upstairs. "Ianto is upstairs working in the baby's room. Why don't you go make sure he hasn't killed himself while I finish dinner?"

Rose stood up and headed down the hall. The flat was small, consisting of only one bathroom, two bedrooms, a small kitchen, and sitting room, but it was cozy and comfortable and Ianto and Lisa were both very happy there.

Ianto had mentioned to Rose that he hoped to one day buy a larger home for his (hopefully) expanding family. As it was, he was more than able to afford more than what he had, but the discrimination against Muggles meant that his options were limited.

Opening the door to the bedroom, Rose found Ianto seated on the floor, a scowl all over his face as he tried to figure out how to assemble his crib.

She giggled, catching his attention.

"Need some help?" she offered, sitting down on the rocking chair in the corner and wiggling her wand slightly.

Ianto rolled his eyes (quite immaturely, Rose decided) and shook his head. "I can _do it." _He whined. "And _without magic."_

_"_But I can do it a lot faster _with _magic," Rose teased.

Ianto grinned as he grabbed a wrench. "You think you're so impressive."

Rose's grin faltered as she remembered the first and last time somebody had those words to her. Ianto, misinterpreted her expression.

"Rose, I'm sorry!" He said immediately. "I was just kidding- I didn't meant to insult-"

"You didn't," Rose said. She frowned. "That's just something the Doctor and me used to say to each other."

Ianto made a sympathetic noise. "I didn't know."

Rose shrugged.

"You miss him," Ianto stated. Rose laughed.

"Of course I do. I miss them all."

"Not like him, though," Ianto said simply. Rose didn't say anything. Sometimes she found that she didn't need to say anything- not around Ianto. He knew her too well. She remembered her relationship with Albus: hours just sitting on the couch enjoying each other's company.

She missed it desperately. All of it.

But there was something else though- it was as though there were this massive longing in her heart that just _ached _for something to fill it. Something was missing from her heart and from her head...something she hadn't even realized had been there in the first place. Rose described this feeling to Ianto.

"I just feel," Rose said, hesitating on the right word. "I don't know. Empty."

"Like I said," Ianto said with a firm nod. "You miss them."

"It's more than that though," Rose denied. "It's different. I can't explain it."

Ianto looked a bit uncomfortable, not that Rose could blame him. He stood up and offered her a small smile. "Maybe you're hungry, yea? It's a good think Lisa's almost done with dinner. It smells great."

"It does," Rose agreed, not making any objections to the change in subject.

"Maybe you'll actually eat something, then," Ianto said firmly. Rose made a face.

Her appetite had been down quite a bit since she arrived in Fred's World- even more so after the crack had appeared in the wall almost a week ago.

There had been no developments with the crack. They had a Muggle repairman come down a few days after the crack had formed and cover it up.

There were no strange lights, no odd sounds, no large explosions.

Just a crack.

Rose wasn't sure to be disappointed or pleased.

"I don't know, Ianto," Rose huffed, annoyed at how Ianto was always on her case to eat. She had survived nineteen years without him, thank-you very much! "I'm just not that hungry anymore, alright?"

"No, not alright," he said firmly. "It's called stress, Rose. From your job, your family, being away from home-" Rose applauded him mentally for his delicate phrasing "-the tabloids. You're overworked and too proud to admit it."

"I am not overworked!" Rose said firmly. "I get in the same time you do!"

"And leave about three hours after the lights have gone out!" Ianto shot back. "You haven't taken a day off since you got here. I know you want to get home, but you won't be any good to the Doctor if you show up in your dimension half-dead from exhaustion."

Rose shifted, uncomfortable at the rebuke.

Ianto sighed and stood up. "C'mon. Let's go eat."

Gratefully, Rose got up and headed into the kitchen with Ianto. Lisa had just finished placing the plates on the table. Rose couldn't help but watch (a bit jealously) as Lisa and Ianto interacted, obviously very in love with each other.

It reminded her a bit of herself the Doctor, although during their time together they had been nothing but friends. It wasn't until they had been separated by the Void that Rose had finally been able to work up the courage to tell him her true feelings, only to have the connection drop before he could finish his sentence.

But she knew what he was going to say- didn't she?

That was a lie. Of course she didn't. Maybe if the Doctor were any other bloke, she would have been able to guess, but he wasn't. He was a Time Lord. The Oncoming Storm. He was the most brilliant and most powerful man in the universe(s) and she was a witch with mediocre NEWTs and a lowly position at her Uncle's shop.

Rose liked to think that she had helped the Doctor and that they had been close, but sometimes he'd go and do something (regeneration, _ahem) _and she'd be reminded all over again that she didn't know him at all.

No wonder she was sometimes riddled with self-doubt, especially when watching a couple as intimate as Ianto and Lisa.

She laughed as Ianto flicked peas in her direction. "Earth to Rose," he called.

Rose scowled and stuck out her tongue. "Oi! What?"

"Lisa and I have a very important question we want to ask you," Ianto said seriously.

Rose scowled. "I am _not _pregnant! I already said!"

"Alright," Ianto muttered. He looked curiously at Lisa, who was blushing furiously. "Why do I get the feeling that I missed something?"

"I'll tell you later," Lisa told him as Rose answered with a shrug.

Satisfied, Ianto nodded.

"Lisa and I wanted you to know whether or not you would like to be Godmother to our child," Ianto said bluntly.

Whatever Rose had been expecting, that had not been it. She gaped like a fish for a moment, trying to ignore the tears that were building in her eyes.

"God- God-?"

"Yes," Lisa said gently. "You've been so kind to us, Rose. We honestly consider you a member of the family and would be honored if you would accept. We know that nobody better will take care of our daughter or son."

Rose let out a deep breath. "I'm honored, really, but I- I need to think about this. I'm sorry."

"We understand," Lisa said, and Rose knew that she did. That incredible sympathy made Rose's stomach churn violently- or maybe it was the fact that the room had begun to get blurry and glow with an odd sort of light.

Either way, Rose needed to get home or maybe get some fresh air. She stood up.

"Thanks for the food," she said. "I really should be going."

"No, Rose," Ianto said quickly, standing up with her and following her down to the hallway.

"You don't have to leave because of that." Ianto began to help her into her jacket despite his calls to have her stay. We aren't offended. It's a huge decisions and it's alright that you need time-"

"I know, but I really need to go," Rose muttered, her head now _burning. _

_"_Why it so _hot _in here?"

Ianto frowned and helped her shrug off the jacket he had helped her put on only a few seconds ago. "It's not, love. It's the same as it's always been."

Rose grabbed her jacket and pulled her hair back, trying to alleviate some of the heat now spreading throughout her body. "Right, well, I have to go."

"You can't go out there like that, Rose!" Ianto argued. "You'll freeze! It's the middle of the night and pouring rain!"

"I'll apparate straight home," Rose promised, she kissed Ianto hastily on the cheek and stepped outside.

Keeping her promise, Rose pulled out her wand, spun in a circle, and stepped forward. She felt the sickening tightening that signified apparition and then opened her eyes. Rose had landed right in front of her building. As it was, she was currently being soaked through by the rain. She let out a sigh as the rain alleviated some of the burning in her head and the stinging in her arm-

Stinging-?

Rose looked down and saw, to her surprise, that she had splinched herself. Not majorly, of course, but there was a large scrape running from her shoulder to her elbow, as though she had fallen hard on the pavement. Rose tore away some of the remaining scraps of her sleeve and used it to wipe away the blood.

Merlin's beard. She hadn't splinched herself since she had been learning how to Apparate (her eyebrow never did grow normally again after that). Rose must have been feeling worse than she thought.

All thoughts of rain and wet and _blessed coolness _disappeared and Rose quickly headed into her flat. Her hands shook a bit as she tried to open the door to her flat, partially because of her haste, but also because she was shivering a bit now that her slight panic over her injury had distracted her from the burning she had felt before (not that she'd ever tell Ianto that she was cold- he was right often enough; there was no need to boost his ego more).

Finally inside, Rose headed to the bathroom where she kept a small chest filled with the necessary potions and herbs, including Dittany. She found it easily and place it on the scrape, wincing a bit at the sting, but enjoying the sight of her skin healing itself.

The matter resolved, Rose let out a sigh of relief. She put everything away and, making a quick decision, closed her bathroom door and began to peel off her wet clothes, preparing herself for a shower.

It went quickly, Rose keeping the water warm, but still cooler than she normally used. She wrapped a towel around herself and conjured some clothes onto her bed as she walked into her bedroom. She changed quickly and hopped into bed, snuggling deeply into the covers. Now that the heat had left her, she was left feeling cold and tired and weary. She imagined that this was what a long trek through the desert would feel like, minus the thirst.

Thoughts of Ianto and Lisa and their little baby (all disappointed in her) lead her to sleep and haunted her dreams.

Needless to say, she didn't sleep well. Rose arrived at Torchwood in a blur. She listened as her team gave her reports on the Dimension Cannon, barely hearing what they were saying, and got through the first half of the day thanks only to many cups of coffee and Ianto kicking her in the shin when she went to fall asleep.

When lunch came, Rose grabbed her lunch and headed straight to the Wall. She had been eating there every day since the crack had shown up. Even after it had been covered up, she couldn't help it. Rose could see where the repairman had covered the crack and painted over it. It seemed to taunt her.

_I'm just a crack._

_Not a way home._

_You're stuck here._

_Stuck..._

"Rose?" Ianto asked, walking into the room and coming up behind her. Rose snapped out of it (she was _really _tired, she realized, if she was accusing the Wall of taunting her).

She turned to Ianto and gave him a small smile. "Hey."

"Mind if I join you?" Ianto asked. He held a sandwich and drink out to show her. Rose grinned and patted the floor next to where she sat. Ianto ambled over and sat down next to her, cross-legged. He unwrapped his sandwich and held a slice out to her, which she gratefully took, pretending not to notice the fact that he was obviously attempting to get her to eat more.

"Sorry about last night," Rose said between chewing. "I really wasn't feeling well."

"You didn't look well," Ianto said simply. Rose glared at him.

"You really know how to flatter a girl, don't you?" She muttered.

"Well, you didn't," Ianto defended.

They chewed in silence for a moment, until Ianto finally said, "You can say no, if you'd like."

"Pardon?" Rose asked blankly.

"About being godmother," Ianto said quietly. "I understand if you want to say no."

"It's not that I don't want to be godmother," Rose said immediately. "I just-" Rose found she didn't have anything to say.

"If you say yes, it means you're stuck here," Ianto said simply. "You're creating a life for yourself."

Rose nodded. "I just don't want to accept the duty of taking care of your kid if something happens to you or Lisa knowing that, if the opportunity comes up, I might leave and never come back. That wouldn't be fair."

"I suppose not," Ianto said. After that, they chewed a bit more.

This time, it was Rose who said, "I love you both so much, and I love Fred and Jackie and little Teddy, but I have my family back in the other Universe. You can't ask me to choose because you already know what the answer will be- every time."

"I know," Ianto assured her. "And neither Lisa or I hold it against you. I doubt anybody who truly cares about you could. You have your parents there, who are probably worried sick about you, and your brother."

"And Al," Rose added. Ianto nodded. "Yes, and Al."

"I think you and Al would get along really well," Rose speculated, glancing at Ianto out of the corner of her eye.

"After hearing everything you've said about him, I'll take that as a compliment," Ianto said.

"And I think Jack would have _really _liked you," Rose teased.

Ianto laughed. "From what you've told me about him, I gathered that he liked _everybody."_

_"_I suppose he did," Rose giggled. "The Doctor couldn't stand him when he first boarded the TARDIS."

"Jealous, probably," Ianto said simply. Rose blushed scarlet, her face burning bright red at Ianto's assumption.

But the burning didn't stop.

It grew.

"Rose?" Ianto asked, his voice sounding as if it were coming from far away. "Rose are you alright?"

Rose couldn't answer. The room was spinning- no, there was something spinning around the room, something in the air, like dust but more fluid. Water. No. It wouldn't stop. Her stomach churned. Her heart ached. Her head burned. Her soul _yearned _for something- something so close, so far away.

Rose saw bright, golden light, and then darkness.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I'm much happier with this chapter than I was with the last. Hopefully you like it, too! <strong>

**Let me know and enjoy :)**

**tinyrose65**


	6. Internal Conflict

One minute Ianto had been talking to Rose about her life back home and the next she was growing pale and fainting. Ianto managed to catch her head before it fell and carefully lowered it to the ground. He squatted down next to her.

Ianto blanched as a loud cracking sound resounded through the otherwise silent room. Looking at the wall, he had to blink against the bright light that was emanating from it. When the light disappeared, a new crack- almost identical to the first- had formed.

_What in the world-?_

Putting the occurrence aside, Ianto turned his focus to Rose. He checked her pulse and was relieved to see that it was normal. He should try and contact the medical team on sight, but he didn't want to leave her on her own, especially with the new crack in the wall.

He bit his lip and rocked back and forth on his heals, trying to decide what he should do.

Rose made up his mind for him when she groaned and reached one arm up to cover her eyes. Ianto was leaning over her when she blinked her eyes open.

She frowned as he came into focus.

"Ianto?" she slurred. "What happened?"

She tried to sit up, but Ianto pushed her back down. Rose probably would have argued, but the room spun rapidly (although not in the way it had before) and her mouth was too dry.

"You fainted." he said. "Don't try to sit up just yet."

Rose croaked, "I- I fainted?"

"I take it you've never fainted before?" Ianto guessed. "No fainting spells as a child? Ever pass out because of some weird alien goo?"

Rose shook her head.

"Alright," Ianto nodded. "We should take you to see the healers on the third floor. Can you stand? If not, you can wait here while I go fetch them."

Never one to be seen as weak, Rose managed, with Ianto's help, to pull herself up on wobbly legs. She was aware she looked a bit like a newborn colt, but better that than all of Torchwood knowing that she had fainted.

"Where'd that come from?" Rose demanded, staring in shock at the new crack in the Wall.

Ianto, who was by her side, supporting her, winced. From the moment the crack had reappeared, he had been hoping she wouldn't notice it, but of course she did.

He pulled her towards the door. She followed, hesitantly, still looking over her shoulder at the Wall.

"Forget it, Rose," he told her firmly. "We need to get you looked over. We can worry about the crack later, alright?"

"Alright," Rose agreed after a minute. Ianto went to lead her outside, but she shrugged him off. It wasn't that she was angry with him (she _wasn't_), she just didn't want any of the employees catching wind of it.

Rose Tyler/Weasley was not a wuss.

Together, they made it for the lift, Rose managing to make it on her own, Ianto walking right next to her the entire time. The moment the lift doors closed, though, and they were out of sight of the other employees, Rose sagged against him. He wrapped his arm firmly around her waist and she threw her arm across his shoulders.

"We'll be at there in a moment," Ianto assured. Rose scowled.

"I know we will. Stop babying me."

"Sorry," Ianto said easily, not taking her words to heart.

"What happened?" She asked him.

Ianto shrugged, unsure. "I don't know. One minute, you were fine, we were just talking."

"Yeah, alright," Rose agreed. "I remember that bit. What happened when I passed out? To the Wall, I mean."

"You passed out and about a second later there was this bright, gold light. It disappeared so fast though that I might have been dreaming, but it left the crack in its place."

"That doesn't make any sense though," Rose protested. "Why would-"

"We're here," Ianto interrupted, stopping her before she could get too agitated. Rose quickly snapped her mouth shut, not wanting the other employees to know what happened just yet.

_She _didn't even know what happened yet.

All she knew was that she had fainted and, when she woke up, there had been a new crack (but somehow still the same, from the looks of it) in the wall and this soft, but gently persistent, singing in her head.

With Ianto by her side, Rose walked down the corridor and into the medical wing. Large, clinical, and white, the medical wing at Torchwood was sterile and cold. About half a dozen white cots lined the walls, and cupboard were filled with both Muggle and wizard remedies, prepared for any accident.

It reminded Rose of the Hogwarts Hospital Wing, which might have been comforting, but not for her. The last time she had found herself there was because of Jimmy and that was a memory she was not eager to relive.

And even before that issue, the only really comforting thing about the Hospital Wing was Madam Pomfrey.

Torchwood didn't have Madam Pomfrey.

It had Healer Norton.

Healer George Norton was an elderly man, who had fading red hair like her grandfather, but that was more or less where the similarities ended. He was strict and mean and difficult to work with. He had a brilliant medical mind, but an even more rigid view than most of the wizards in Fred's World and refused to work with Muggles or Muggle remedies, believing that they were beneath him.

He had lost quite a few patients that way, which is why he wasn't Torchwood's number one choice for Head Healer, but with their reputation and his desperation for work, he was the only one who would take the job.

"What happened to you?" He asked her gruffly as Ianto lead her to a cot. She sat down gingerly and glanced at the door. Once she was sure it was closed, she let out a deep moan. Her muscles were incredibly sore, as though she had just run a marathon.

"She fainted," Ianto offered for her. Norton glared at him.

"I asked her, not you, _Muggle," _he snapped derisively. "Now, get out so I can work."

Rose snapped, "Oi! Ianto works with me, not you. If I want him here- and I _do- _he stays. Listen to him, yea? He's smart and I can't really talk right-"

Almost as if to prove her point, Rose broke into a coughing fit.

Norton looked at Ianto as though it were all his fault. "Well, what are you waiting for, boy? Go get her a glass of water!"

He needn't have said anything, though, since Ianto had already done just that, getting her a glass from the small sink in the corner. Rose took it and drank gratefully. Resigning himself to the fact that she was in no condition to answer questions, he turned to Ianto.

"So, she passed out, then?"

"Yes," Ianto said with a nod.

"Yes, _sir," _Healer Norton stressed.

Ianto resisted the urge to roll his eyes and stick out his tongue (God help him, he was spending far too much time with Rose), and apologized. "Sorry, _sir."_

"What was she doing before she passed out?" Norton asked.

"Eating lunch," Ianto said. "We were sitting and talking- nothing difficult, no hard work. She's been overworking herself, though, and she hasn't been feeling well lately. I think it might be stress related."

"Answer the questions I ask you," Norton grumbled, running a scan. He eyed Ianto distrustfully. "_I'm _the healer, here."

"That's not the only thing you are," he muttered, shooting Rose a look. She giggled and Healer Norton turned to face him.

"_What _did you say, boy?"

"I said, 'Of course you are, _sir,'_" Ianto said innocently. Healer Norton looked like he didn't believe him, but preliminary scan finished and he turned his attention to it. Ianto shot Rose, who had been watching Norton with undisguised distaste, a wink.

She beamed at him, that same warm smile that could always light up a room, and Ianto felt his heart grow a bit lighter. Whatever was wrong with her- Well, she'd be fine. She was _Rose._

_"_Well," Healer Norton mused, looking over his piece of parchment, "I don't see anything on the scan. You aren't pregnant, your hormone levels are fine, and I see no other issues, although your Muggle is right, you are exhausted."

He summoned up a small box and handed it to her. "Take one phial once a day, right before bed, for five days. They should help you get a deeper sleep and give you a bit more energy during the day, not that exhaustion really explains what happened to you. You aren't quite to the point where you'd drop into sleep in the middle of the day."

The healer looked at her suspiciously. Are you sure you fainted?"

"Pretty positive, yeah," Rose said, blinking in disbelief. It wasn't exactly something that a person could be unsure about, in her opinion.

"The only other option I see, then, is emotional," Healer Norton said firmly. He vanished the parchment with a flick of his wand. "I don't treat that."

"Emotional?" Rose asked.

"Emotional," Healer Norton confirmed. "You were undergoing some kind of emotional trauma and your body responded by having you faint. It could be anything: family issues, work mate troubles, heartbreak-"

He saw Rose flinch.

"Ah," the healer said triumphantly. "That'd it do it. I've seen it many times over the years: a young witch gets her heart broken and is too inconsolable to work. Honestly. That's why witches need to be back home where they belong, and let men do their work. All these young things galavanting about in Torchwood are nothing more than distractions-"

"Thank-you, sir," Ianto said, his voice oddly clipped. "Although we appreciate your professional opinion, I will take it from here."

Healer Norton straightened himself up and glared. "How dare you talk to me that way! I could get you fired!"

Ianto snorted. "I'd like to see you try, what with all of these new Muggle reforms going around, not to mention all of Mr. Weasley's warnings about our impending review. At the rate you're going, it's far more likely that you'll soon find yourself waiting at the back of an unemployment queue, not me."

Before Healer Norton could regain his composure from _that_ statement, Ianto had hauled Rose onto her feet and lead her outside and back into the lift. The doors closed and Rose let herself sag against him once again, but this time for a completely different reason.

She was laughing hysterically.

"Oh, _Merlin," _Rose gasped. "_His face!"_

"That felt good," Ianto acknowledged. He glanced at Rose, who had yet to stop laughing.

"Careful," he warned. "You still aren't completely better. You don't want to overdo it."

"I'll be fine," Rose denied, already standing up a bit straighter as she continued to regain her strength. The two stepped off the lift.

"I need to go talk to Suzie about something," Rose told him, making sure that she looked as healthy as possible. "Are you gonna let me go on my own, or do I still need a chaperone?"

Ianto nudged her off. "Alright, go ahead, but _be careful. _I'll be in the office. I have a few calls I have to make."

Watching Rose walk away, Ianto took a moment to make sure that she would be alright. Once he was satisfied that she would be, he headed off for his office, closing the door firmly behind him. He picked up his phone and quickly dialed a number.

Fred picked up after two rings.

"Hello, Mr. Fred Weasley, Head of Torchwood, Speaking."

"Sir? It's Ianto."

Fred sat up straighter when he heard the voice on the other end. "Hello, Ianto. How is she?"

When Fred had heard of the crack in the Wall about a week ago, and after Rose had visited him in his office, he knew that he would need to keep an eye on her, just to make sure she stayed out of trouble. He had enlisted Ianto's help immediately.

Ianto had initially been hesitant to help, but ultimately his concern for Rose's well being had convinced him, although Fred could tell that he often held back a lot of the information that he found irrelevant. This was the first time that Ianto had called him.

"She's fine," Ianto assured, looking up to make sure Rose wasn't coming. "Although, something interesting did happen today."

"What?" Fred asked.

"Well, she fainted," Ianto said bluntly.

Fred let out a deep breath of air. "She fainted? That's it? I mean, not 'That's it? It isn't a big deal,' but you had me worried that something horrible had happened, but obviously she's alright or I would have heard, or she had done something stupid."

"She is alright," Ianto's voice assured over the phone.

Fred nodded, before realizing that Ianto could not see him. Fred spun around in his chair (it was one of the perks of the job, Fred thought, having a chair that spun).

"Then why call me in the middle of the day?" Fred posed.

"That's the thing," Ianto said. "She and I were eating by the Wall-"

Ianto sounded guilty, but Fred didn't interrupt.

"-when she fainted. I saw this bright light coming from the Wall and, when it disappeared, the crack had returned."

"The exact same one?" Fred's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He'd have to get somebody on that immediately.

"Yes, sir."

Fred said, "Thank you for telling me this, Ianto. I appreciate it. I worry about her, but she doesn't talk much to me, not that I blame her. The situation is- confusing, to say the least."

"I understand," Ianto responded.

"I'll talk to you soon," Fred answered, before he hung up the phone. He sat back in his chair and rubbed his face with his hands.

It seemed that Rose had been right. There _was _something going on with the crack. Not that he had doubted her (it would have been too coincidental otherwise), but he was hoping to put it off for a few weeks, until after the inspection.

He called out for his secretary and frowned. No doubt Rose would be after him soon to convince him to run tests, and this time he didn't have a reason to justify it.

He'd just have to refuse.

Blunt, no nonsense, refusal.

At least until after the inspections and budget reviews. Then he could run all the tests that he wanted.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley?"

"Call a repairman. A different one, if you don't mind. The last one did an awful job on the Wall."

"Yes, sir," she nodded, immediately heading back to her desk. The one thing he liked about her was that she didn't ask any questions. She did her job. At Torchwood, where almost everything was top secret, that ability was vital.

Rose, with her constant pushing and prodding and always asking "Why?" was a rarity. Fred knew she got it from her travels with the Doctor, that he had taught her to look and question and to never back down.

Despite the trouble it sometimes caused, Fred had to admit that Rose and her team had grossed one of the most impressive track records in Torchwood since she had started here. He had even begun considering updating the training program, but training a group of people to always question in an organization that prided itself on secrecy was just asking for problems.

A few hours later, Fred had finished work for the day. His secretary had told him that a new repairman would be around later the next day. All Fred had to do now was pray that the inspections wouldn't be until after the crack had been fixed and manage to keep Rose happy until then.

Perhaps, if he pretended that he didn't care about the crack (at least until after the inspection), he could hold her off for a while. Then, once inspections were over, he'd let her do all the tests she wanted.

With a sigh and a new plan, he got up from his chair and shrugged on his coat. Bidding his secretary good-bye, he made his way to the first floor, where the workers were able to Floo home, if they wished. After a few minutes in line, it was his turn.

He grabbed some Floo powder. "Weasley Manor."

There was a flash of green light and the familiar sensation of rushing through a tunnel, and then he found himself home. Stepping outside, he was by the sight of his wife and son in the living room.

His grin faded, though, when he realized that Rose was there, too, talking to them. She turned to him and wiggled her fingers in greeting.

"Oh, Fred!" Jackie said, standing up, with little Teddy in her arms. She kissed him and he took their son from her. "I'm so glad you're home! Did you have a good day at work?"

"Same old, same old, I suppose," Fred answered, bouncing Teddy lightly, enjoying his small giggles.

"Rose was just telling me about how she fainted! Did you know?"

"I heard-"

"Honestly!" Jackie interrupted. "You work them too hard down there! Poor Rose, passing out from exhaustion."

"It wasn't his fault, honest," said Rose from the couch. "I'm just a workaholic, I s'pose."

"See, Jackie?" Fred said quickly. "It wasn't my fault."

Jackie sniffed. "Oh, alright then. I'm goin' to go see what the cook's making for dinner later."

With that, she took Teddy and left, leaving Rose and Fred in the living room. Rose took another sip of her tea, but didn't say anything.

Fred smiled hesitantly as he sat down on the couch opposite her. He had a feeling that he wasn't going to like what she had to say, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe she was just paying him a friendly visit.

"Thanks for that," he said.

Rose shrugged. "No problem. I didn't lie, anyways. I didn't faint from exhaustion- or so Healer Norton says."

"And we all know how brilliant Healer Norton is," Fred said sagely.

Rose snorted.

"You're here about that crack, aren't you?" Fred sighed reluctantly. No point beating around the bush, he thought.

Rose nodded. "It's back."

"So I've heard," Fred grimaced. "Don't worry, though. I've already called in a new repairman. He'll be there tomorrow."

Rose's jaw dropped. "You're pulling my leg, right?"

"Your leg looks perfectly fine to me," Fred shrugged. Rose glared at him.

"I could barely believe you'd do nothing the first time the crack showed up. Now you're tellin' me that you aren't going to do anything the _second _time it shows up?"

"The repairman did a bad job. It happens," Fred said with a shrug, trying to feign nonchalance. "That's what happens when you hire Muggles, isn't it?"

Fred's comment had the desired effect. If he had said that to anybody else, they probably would have laughed, but Rose, in her already angered state, let out a quiet scream of frustration and stood up sharply.

Not looking at him, she stomped out of the living room and slammed the door behind her. Once it was closed, she stopped and took a deep breath, leaning against a wall and waiting to see if Fred would come after her.

He didn't.

_Men, _she rolled her eyes. Then she looked around and realized that she had taken the wrong door. No wonder Fred hadn't come after her- she was in the supply closet. Boxes were stacked from floor to ceiling, almost all containing items that belonged to Fred's deceased family.

She felt a slight pang of sympathy; he was too hurt to bring himself to clean the items up. Then she remembered his attitude and his comment about Muggles and found all sympathy for him disappearing.

How hard was it for him to admit that he had been wrong, and to order a formal investigation? Never mind the fact that the crack could be her way home, it could be dangerous. But no, he decided to just ignore it and see if it went away on its own.

It _wasn't _going to go away on it's own. That much was obvious to Rose, but nobody else- except maybe Ianto- seemed to see it. And the only reason Ianto seemed to believe her was because he had been there to see it form from a supposedly-golden light.

_I am the Bad Wolf._

_I create myself._

_My Doctor._

Rose blinked, not sure what had happened. It seemed as though, for a moment, she had heard voices through the song in her head.

In the quiet, the singing seemed louder then ever; the song low and loud at the same time, that made Rose feel sad and comforted at the same time.

It had been there since she woke up after she fainted and had yet to leave. Rose had hesitated to tell Ianto because, even in the wizarding world, hearing voices (or songs) was never a good thing, or so her mother had supposedly told Uncle Harry when he was in his second year at Hogwarts.

Rose set her jaw in grim determination when she spied parallel-Harry's invisibility cloak. She picked it up and was satisfied to see that it worked just like back in her universe.

Tucking it into one of her pockets (bigger on the inside- she had learned _something _from the Doctor), she opened the door and entered the living room. She didn't look at Fred as she left, but her face was burning. Hopefully he thought it was from anger or embarrassment, not guilt at stealing something from him.

"Going already, love?" asked Jackie confusedly as she entered the hall from the kitchen.

"Sorry," Rose said quickly, sidestepping her. "Got a lot to do."

"He does work you too hard!" Jackie fumed.

Rose didn't correct her this time, but just walked out the door; let Fred deal with it. He deserved it.

Heading down the large drive, Rose looked over her shoulder furtively and then picked up her phone. She had a plan in mind, but it would only work if she had help.

She called Ianto. He answered on the first ring.

"Hello?

"Ianto, it's Rose," she said. She didn't give him a chance to answer. Keeping her voice as steady as she could, she told him, "Be ready tonight and meet me in a few hours at that pub we like to go to after work."

"Why?" Even through the bad connection, Rose heard the confusion in his voice.

Rose felt the weight of the cloak in her pocket and the singing in her head. "We're breaking into Torchwood."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So I'm hoping this chapter makes up for the last one, and the long wait. I really enjoyed writing it, for some reason, especially the part with Healer Norton. And what do you think about Ianto reporting on Rose to Fred? Does that make him a traitor or a good friend? Just wondering.<strong>

**tinyrose65**


	7. Mott, Noble, and Saxon

The security camera in Torchwood swiveled slightly, as it did every half hour, to scan the empty room. When it picked up nothing but a wall and a crack, it moved back into place and sent the report to the main computer in the security room.

If it had been paying any attention (not that camera's could pay attention), it would have noticed a slight flicker in the corner of the room and two pairs of bodiless shoes.

The flicker shifted and the shoes moved, making their way towards the camera. The camera swiveled again, and they froze, waited, and then moved again once it was safe. One of the pairs, hearing a sudden noise, stopped suddenly, causing the other pair to bump into them.

"Ow!" hissed a voice. "Why'd you stop?"

"I thought I heard something."

"There's nothing here but us- keep going!"

The flicker shuffled forward, moving closer and closer to the camera, until it was directly below it. Then, from the flicker, emerged a small, dark, lump, that floated up and up and up until it was directly in front of the camera lens.

As though on a secret signal, it smashed itself onto the lens, now stuck.

The flicker dropped and the cloak pooled beneath Rose's and Ianto's feet as they shoved it off. Rose lowered her wand and raised her eyebrows.

"The most state of the art equipment money can buy, and it was stopped by a piece of gum. Ianto, you really are a genius."

"Thank you," Ianto said uneasily, looking around him. Rose whacked him lightly on the arm and rolled her eyes.

"Relax. Nobody knows we're here. We'll be fine. I used to break into places with the Doctor all the time."

"And you're always telling me stories about how you two used to break out of prisons after you got caught, too," Ianto scowled. "Somehow I'm not reassured."

"Fine, then don't be reassured or whatever," Rose muttered. "Let's just run the tests and get home, alright?"

"Please," Ianto said relieved. "I'll go get the equipment."

While Ianto was off gathering what he needed, Rose placed her hand on the crack, trying to see if she could feel anything unusual about it, but there was nothing. She sighed and began to play with some of the peeling paint next to it. Rose hoped that Ianto's tests would find something.

The sound of squeaky wheels alerted her to the fact that he had returned. Rose turned to see Ianto pushing a small cart, laden with a small computer and several different pieces of high-tech equipment whose uses Rose did not know.

"Do you really need all that?" Rose asked.

Ianto glared at her. "Would I bring it here if I didn't? Now let's hurry up and get out of here."

Rose helped Ianto set up the equipment as best she could, but then left him to it, not really sure what else to do. She paced, bit her nails, fiddled with her hair, and sighed impatiently. Ianto, growing annoyed, looked at her.

"Will you stop? You're making me nervous."

"Sorry," Rose said.

They were silent for another minute.

Then Rose sighed again.

"For Merlin's sake, Rose," Ianto said exasperatedly.

"I'm sorry!" She repeated. "I just- When will the tests be done?"

"These are very complicated tests, Rose," Ianto said imperiously. "There's no telling how long they could take. It could  
>be hours until we have a definitive-"<p>

A small beep sounded from the computer and Rose grinned triumphantly.

"-answer," Ianto finished petulantly. With a sigh, he went over to the computer and began to read the results on the screen. With each passing second, his expression grew more and more troubled.

Rose wrung her hands. "What is it? What do they say?"

"I don't understand," Ianto said, eyes flicking back and forth between Rose and the screen. "These results don't make any sense!"

"What do they say?" Rose demanded, by Ianto made no indication of moving. Frustrated, and more than a bit impatient, Rose hip-checked him out of the way. He gave a startled squeak, but Rose was too preoccupied with the screen to hear him. She blinked, read the results, and blinked again, sure that she was misreading something.

"What?" She muttered, brushing her hair away from her face.

"See what I mean?" Ianto asked, looking over her shoulder.

She did.

The results on the screen were clear: there was definitely something coming from the crack in the wall, some sort of energy, it looked like, but not one that the computer was able to identify.

That meant that, on one hand, Rose had been right.

The crack was not normal.

But Rose's theory that the crack was related to the Void seemed disproved. The Void was the definition of nothing. There was nothing there, so it followed that nothing, including freaky, inexplicable, energy particles, could be coming out.

There was still the matter of that other result, though.

The result that showed, quite conclusively, the presence of Void stuff on the energy, which meant, quite conversely, that the energy, whatever it was, had actually somehow come from the Void.

Or, at least, through it.

"So I was right," Rose said, smiling. "This could be my way home!"

"It could," Ianto said slowly, reaching in front of her. He gently powered the computer off, forcing her to tear her eyes away from the results and face him. He had his arms crossed, looking more serious than she was used to seeing him.

Rose could hear the hesitation in his voice.

"But what?" she asked wearily, rubbing her forehead, felling another headache coming on. She really should see somebody about them, she mused.

"Well, all this tells us is that there's some energy coming through from some parallel world. It doesn't have to be yours. It could be any! And even if it is yours, there was a reason why the Doctor closed up the doors between the worlds. It was  
>dangerous having them open."<p>

Rose shifted uncomfortably, feeling as though she were back at Hogwarts, getting chewed out by Professor Binns for getting caught snogging Scorpis Malfoy in a broom cupboard in her fifth year.

Ianto even wore the same expression as he said, "Do you really want to undo the Doctor's hard work?"

"No," Rose admitted. As happy as he would be to see her, he really wouldn't be too pleased with her, would he? "But what am I supposed to do Ianto? This could still be my way home! To my mom and Dad and Al and Hugo and the Doctor and Jack and I can't just do nothing, I can't! Don't tell me-"

"We aren't going to do nothing," Ianto interrupted, realizing that Rose was getting slightly hysterical. "We're going to print out these results, pack away the equipment and leave. Tomorrow, we'll go to see Fred and tell him what we did, apologize for breaking and entering, an hope he's in a good mood. If he is, maybe he'll listen to what we've found."

Rose couldn't deny that this seemed like a perfectly logical and well thought-out plan, but it didn't make her any happier.  
>There was so much waiting and too many variables. What if Fred got angry with them? What if he didn't believe them?<br>What if he did, but wouldn't let Rose and Ianto on the case?

Ianto, in the meantime, had booted up the computer again, and was flicking through the results. He looked up, realizing that Rose was far too quiet.

"I know, Rose," Ianto said, reading the expression on her face as he sent the results in an e-mail to himself, hoping to print them out at home, no doubt. "I promise, though, if Fred won't do anything about this, we'll figure something else out.  
>Never mind getting you home- if the rift between the worlds is opening again, this could be dangerous for everybody."<p>

"I'm being pretty selfish, aren't I?" Rose said guiltily.

Ianto shook his head and turned off the computer again. He took her gently by the arm with one hand and pushed the car with the equipment with the other.

"It's not selfish to miss your family," he denied. "Now, get your cloak. We should get out of here before our luck turns and somebody finds us."

They managed to make out of Torchwood almost as fast as they had entered it. As they stood outside the office, Rose folded her cloak up and Ianto rubbed his hands together, warding off the chill.

"So, what do we do now?" he asked.

Rose shrugged. "Like you said- we wait until tomorrow and then beg Fred's forgiveness."

"Do you think he'll be very angry?" Ianto asked as they walked towards Ianto's flat. Rose shrugged and shoved her hands in her pockets. It really was a cool night.

"Hope not," Rose muttered. "I don't think he could be, once we show him what we've found. I mean- what did we find?"

Ianto shrugged, huddled into his coat. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

Rose nodded and pulled out her wand, ready to apparate home. "Want a lift?"

"I'll be fine," Ianto assured. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Rose said, before apparating home. Just as a few nights ago, she showered quickly, and then got into bed, burrowing deep into her covers.

The next morning, she woke up a bit disoriented and absolutely exhausted, until she remembered the results for the tests  
>last night. Excited at the possibility of a way home, she almost ran out of the flat, but before she could apparate to work,<p>

her phone rang.

It was Fred.

"Hello, Fred," Rose said nervously. Had he learned what she and Ianto had been doing the night before.

It didn't sound like it, because he said, "I need you to drop in on some people and investigate a claim before work today."

"Why before work?" Rose asked. "And will my team be meeting me there?"

"I don't think anything will come of it," Fred huffed, sounding highly annoyed, "So I don't want to devote valuable resources or time to it. This woman keeps calling the tip hotline though, so I finally told her I'd send somebody just to shut her up. Ianto will be meeting you there with the file, alright?"

"Alright," Rose agreed. "What's the address?"

"I'll text it to you, Rose," Fred said. "Goodbye and good luck!"

The address was on the outskirts of the city. When she apparated there, Ianto was already walking down the sidewalk, having taken the bus there. She didn't want to think about how early Fred must have called him to have him go to Torchwood, pick up the file, and then have him meet her at the house.

"It's pretty," Rose referred, looking at the house.

Ianto shrugged, "Standard wizard suburb, I suppose."

He handed Rose a file and a cup of coffee. She told him bluntly, "You look beat."

"Well, I had a long night," he said pointedly, as she opened the file. Ianto summarized for her, "Her name is Donna Noble. She's been calling the Torchwood tip line for months claiming that, about six months ago, she grandfather saw something fall from the sky. Nobody else reported seeing anything, though, so we didn't bother investigating."

"Gotta give her points for persistence," Rose admitted, taking a look at the file. She closed it and placed it into the pocket of her leather jacket (bigger-on-the-inside pockets, a little trick she had picked up from the Doctor). "Right, then. Let's get this over with."

Rose knocked on the door. A moment later, it was a blonde woman that answered. "Yes? Can I help you? If you're here to sell us something, we don't want it!"

"Ah, no, ma'am. We aren't here to sell you anything," Ianto said, looking sufficiently terrified. Rose rolled her eyes at him and then smiled for the woman.

"We're here from Torchwood. We need to speak to Donna Noble. Is she here?"

The woman looked exasperated. "Oh, she's here alright. Donna!" she called, walking into the house.

Ianto and Rose exchanged glances as another woman, younger, with red hair, came. She looked at them both and looked delighted. "Oh! Finally! I've been calling you lot to come down here for ages! It's about time you showed up! I'm Donna Noble!"

"I'm Rose Tyler," Rose introduced, shaking Donna's hand. "This is my associate, Ianto Jones."

"Well," Donna said, ushering them in, "Come in! Come in! We should get started! There's a lot for me to tell you- and I suppose you'll want to get your equipment set up. I assume your team will be here soon?"

Donna looked so eager that Rose hated to burst her bubble. "Donna, I'm sorry. I think you misunderstood. It's just me and Ianto here and we have no equipment."

"Whad'ya mean?" Donna said, her smile dropping, replaced with a rather formidable scowl.

"It's protocol," Rose said truthfully. "Before we can fully investigate any claim, we send out a few Torchwood workers to poke around and see if there's any truth in the matter. We have to vet out the phonies somehow. Torchwood gets hundreds of tips a week."

"Most of them yours," Ianto muttered. Donna heard and glared at him. However, Ianto was nothing if not charming, so he smiled at her. "It really was quite impressive how you managed to get us down here. Persistence is an admirable trait."

"Don't think flattery will get you anywhere, mister," Donna snapped.

Ianto shrugged. "I didn't think it would. You can't blame me for trying."

"Why don't you show us what you saw that night?" Rose said quickly, hoping to keep them from killing each other. Donna humphed and nodded.

"Well, it wasn't me that saw much. I was in the kitchen, cooking, when, I glanced out the window to the backyard, and I saw this thing. It looked like a shooting star, but it was too bright. Too orange."

"Shooting stars can vary in color," Ianto offered. "Based on their composition."

"I know that," Donna snapped. "You think I haven't done any research on 'em since that night? But if you want to know a lot more, I'll have to take you to see Granddad, then," Donna informed them.

"Granddad?" Rose and Ianto asked simultaneously. Sure enough, Donna took them outside the house to the back. There, pitched on a hill, was a tent. Sitting by the tent, there was an old man in a red hat putting away his blankets.

"Granddad," Donna called. The man looked up. "These are people from Torchwood. Finally."

"Oh," he said, standing up and walking over to meet them. He shook their hands. "Wilfred Mott. You can call me Wilf."

Rose and Ianto introduced themselves. Rose, shoving her hands in her pockets to keep the chill away, said, "Sir, Donna says you can tell us more about what she saw that night. According to the report, you two saw something "bright" and "on fire" in the sky?"

"That's right," Wilf said. "I was out here, like I always am. I stargaze, you see. I love 'em. Stars, I mean. Something about 'em just makes you feel-"

"So small," Rose suggested, "But so big at the same time."

"Exactly!" Wilf said, looking quite pleased. "Glad to know I'm not the only one. My daughter's been tellin' me I'm getting barmy in my old age, you know?"

"You've always been barmy, Grandad," Donna said affectionately. "But go on! Tell 'em the rest!"

"Right," Wilf said, retreating into his tent. He called out as he rummaged around and Rose and Ianto had to strain to hear him. "So I went after it, since I figured that there must've been something where it looked like it landed, and I found these things by a charred bit of grass and dirt, like a crash sight."

He came out and held out several scraps of cloth. Rose took them and gently turned them over. They were surprisingly soft, but completely charred. The bits that were still clear were a deep read and looked like no material Rose had ever seen. She took out her wand and waved it. The cloth disappeared, now sent to the labs at Torchwood for analysis.

"The labs at Torchwood will be able to tell us what they are," Rose explained. "In the meantime, keep an eye out for anything else, yea? We really appreciate it."

"Are you saying that that could be extraterrestrial?" Wilf said. Donna looked interested despite herself.

"Perhaps," Ianto said diplomatically. "Is there anything else?"

"No, I guess not," Donna said. Wilf asked, "You'll let us know, though, right?"

"Absolutely," Rose promised. She looked around. "It alright if we apparate from here?"

"Oh, not a problem," Donna said, waving away her concern. "But wait 'till I tell mum! She's going to eat her words!"

Rose laughed and linked arms with Ianto. "Good luck with that!"

Even after all that, when Rose and Ianto apparated into work, she got to the office even earlier than usual, but it seemed  
>as though she was not the only one. In fact, the entire building seemed to be in a flutter.<p>

Ianto seemed to know what was going on. He always did.

"Ianto, what's happenin'? I haven't seem 'em this excited since Fred announced we were getting a new coffee machine."

"It's-"

Rose shook her head. "Never mind. I'll find out eventually. Did you get those results to Fred?"

"Not yet," Ianto said frustratedly as they entered their office. "But Rose, you need to listen to me for a minute-"

"Tell me when I get back," Rose said, grabbing the folder containing the printed out results and heading for the lift. "I'm going to give this to Fred. He needs to see it."

"No- Rose- Wait!"

But Rose wasn't listening. She hummed to herself, in an uncharacteristically good mood. When the lift opened and Fred secretary saw her, she paled. "Miss Tyler, I know I can't really stop you, but Fred is-"

"Don't worry," Rose interrupted. "I'll only be a minute. I just need to drop something off."

"No, you don't understand-"

But, once again, Rose wasn't listening. She opened the door to Fred's office.

"Uncle Fred," She began, but stopped, because her Uncle wasn't alone. There was somebody in his office with him. A man.

This man turned around and Rose's eyes widened.

Standing between her and her Uncle, grinning like the cat who had just ate the canary, was the Muggle Representative himself, Mr. Harold Saxon.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Sorry for the long wait between updates! I actually had this ready last week, but then I had the idea to add Donna, so that took some time! Hopefully you enjoyed it, though!<strong>

**Feedback is always appreciated! **

**tinyrose65**


	8. A Gut Feeling

Rose's first reaction was a mental, "Guh."

Sue her- she was a woman, and Harold Saxon was a very good looking man.

Sandy hair and bright brown eyes, he was slim and dressed sharply in a crisp black suit. He smiled at her and she felt her knees grow slightly weak. Already she could understand how he had won so many votes- Muggle and Wizard alike, everybody would want to see more of him on camera.

"Ah, hello," she said, her voice coming out a bit higher than normal. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry to interrupt."

"Oh, not a problem," Mr. Saxon said politely, although he wore an odd look on his face, like he was trying to remember something just out of reach. Fred had taken the time to recover from her intrusion and shook his head at Rose.

"You didn't interrupt, Rose," he assured her. "You were right on time."

"I- I was?" Rose asked.

Fred nodded. "Yes, to take Mr. Saxon on a tour of our facilities."

Mr. Saxon held out his hand. "Harold Saxon."

"Rose Tyler," she said without thinking.

Her face lit up in realization. She couldn't help but admit that it was quick thinking on her Uncle's part. She had promised him no such thing, though, and she wondered which poor employee he had originally drafted for the job. Ianto had apparently known about it earlier and Rose cursed herself for not listening to him. Still, Fred had no doubt realized that there would be few with a better track record with Muggles than Rose.

"Fantastic," Mr. Saxon said. "I was looking forward to getting a tour, but I never imagined having such a lovely tour guide."

Rose blushed: just because she was madly in love with the Doctor didn't mean that she couldn't appreciate another man, or his attentions. The few months that Captain Jack traveled in the TARDIS, Rose was bombarded with compliments and romantic gestures, and loved every minute of it.

Not that anything would have ever happened between them, of course. Jack was a flirt, but he was loyal. He never would have hurt her or the Doctor that way. Although, sometimes from the way he looked at them, Rose wondered if Jack was in love with them both. She couldn't bring herself to think too much about it.

It was a bit much for her 21st century mind to handle.

Thinking of Jack made her remember how long it'd been since she'd had a good looking bloke pay attention to her (or how long it had been since she'd noticed, since her thoughts were so wrapped up in the Doctor).

It wouldn't hurt to have a bit of fun, would it?

She smiled at Mr. Saxon, "Are you sure the facilities are the only thing you'll be lookin' at then, Mr. Saxon?"

"It's Harry," he corrected, smiling back, "And I'll do my best, but I make no promises."

He stared at her for a while until Fred broke the silence. "Right, well, if you'll be on your way then-"

Rose nodded, but then remembered the files she held. "Do you want to take these files? You really should look at them."

"Put them in the pile," Fred ordered, nodding towards the massive stack of folders on the desk. Rose's heart sank, wondering when he'd get to them, before nodding resolutely and dropping them there.

Then she turned to Mr. Saxon and said, "If you'll come with me, sir?"

Rose decided that it would be easiest to start her tour at the current floor, and then work her way down. She showed Saxon the offices, the research labs, the medical wing, and most importantly, all of their Muggle facilities.

Like most institutions, Torchwood was still segregated (a thought that made Rose sick), but unlike other organizations, Torchwood really did try to make sure that the Muggles were treated fairly.

Whether it was out of genuine care for Muggles or a fear of a slap on the wrist from the government, Rose wasn't sure, but she had a feeling it was the latter. Torchwood had been very careful in recent years to make sure they earned no other reasons for the public to grow angry (especially since the Battle of Canary Wharf- although most of the public hardly cared about the treatment of Muggles).

"As you can see," Rose said formally, taking him to the Muggle break room, "We have top notch facilities for all of our employees."

"That's all very impressive indeed," Mr. Saxon said politely, settling himself down on one of the chairs in front of the coffee table. "But I think I'd like to know more about you, for now. Why don't you take a seat?"

"Me?" Rose asked in surprise. Harry nodded and Rose shrugged, sitting down across from him. The rest of the break room was empty. Lunch had just ended, so everybody else had run off to work.

He was draped across the chair languidly and smiled charmingly. "Don't worry, I don't bite, Ms. Tyler."

"That's a real shame," she said impishly, and Saxon barked out a laugh. "And if I can call you Harry, you have to call me Rose."

"Fair enough," Harry conceded. "Now, Rose, how did you come to work at Torchwood?"

"A friend of mine worked with aliens before," Rose said slowly. "He got wrapped up in the whole ghost shift nonsense, and so did I. When it was over, Torchwood recruited me."

That wasn't a total lie, although it was a rather bad one. Harry didn't question her on it. Instead, he nodded.

"And your friend?" he asked.

"He's no longer with us," Rose said after a moment.

"I'm sorry," Harry said sincerely. "Many lost their lives that day. That's why Torchwood is such a blessing."

Rose nodded, "And it's why so many of our workers are passionate."

"That's good," Harry said politely. "Passion is what got me where I am today."

Rose leant forward, curious about Mr. Saxon. Other than the things she had heard through the gossip chain at  
>Torchwood, she didn't know much about him. "Had you always been interested in politics?"<p>

"No," Harry said. "I grew into it. When I was little, I was convinced that I was going to be a doctor."

"Why'd you change your mind?" Rose asked.

"Aside from most wizards' refusal to even _attempt _Muggle medicine?" Harry laughed. "A complete aversion to blood."

Rose snorted. "Yes, that wouldn't help your chances, would it?"

"As I grew older, I learned that I was more suited to healing society's problems with my words, not my hands. Politics became the logical choice," Harry said, tapping out a soft beat on the table.

Rose followed it with her eyes.

One, two, three, four.

"Did you-" she began, but stopped, watching his fingers for another second. "Ah, have you always been this passionate about muggle rights?"

"I suppose," Harry said, frowning. "Even as a little boy, I never thought it right that we be treated differently, just because  
>we do not have magic."<p>

"Me, too," Rose said grinning. "It's not your fault... or ours, right?"

"No, it isn't," he agreed. "After all, it's only a manipulation of psychic energy. Anyone could do it, if they put their mind to it."

"It's what?" Rose asked. She was suddenly brought back to a time from years ago- had it really been years? It was her and the first Doctor and she was lounging in the TARDIS and he was tinkering.

_"Magic is just another form of science, Rose. Take the Muggles. They have numbers. Give 'em the right ones, the right equations, and they can split the atom. Wizards use words. Words, said at the right time, in the right way, with the right wand movement. You lot can use that to harness psychic energy, do almost anything. "_

_"And you can do it, too?" Rose asked. _

_"O' course I can!"_

_"You think you're so impressive!"_

_"I am so impressive!"_

Harry looked caught off guard and Rose watched him closely. It was the first time she had seen him look anything other than cool, calm, and collected, but before she could make anything of it, his mask had slid back in place. He smiled easily.

"What?" Saxon said- and suddenly, he was Saxon. She had started to trust him without even realizing, slowly falling to into his spell, like a baby calmed by a soft lullaby. But something inside her was whispering to her that Saxon could not be trusted, that there was something more to him.

The singing in her head grew louder, drowning out everything else.

"You said-" Rose stopped and shook her head. "Never mind. I probably misheard you. We have a few floors left."

She stood up and beckoned and spoke strictly professionally throughout the tour. Mr. Saxon tried to regain whatever friendship they had been on the verge of building, but Rose stood firm. Something inside her was screaming that something was wrong.

They finally finished the tour (much to Rose's relief) at the bottom floor. Rose stood with her arms crossed and asked Mr.  
>Saxon cooly, "Do you have any questions for me, sir?"<p>

Saxon said drily, "I think you've made your position quite clear. However, there is one thing that I must ask of you."

"Of course, sir," Rose said as politely as she could manage. She may have been fighting the irrational urge to claw his eyes out, but Fred would claw her eyes out of she did anything to jeopardize this inspection.

"We never saw the top floor."

Whatever Rose had been expecting, it wasn't that. She visibly blanched, thinking of the white wall and the Daleks and-

"That room is off-limits to all non-Torchwood members," Rose said automatically. "And even then, only those with the  
>highest clearance are allowed up there."<p>

"I've been given access to all areas of Torchwood," Mr. Saxon said smugly. "You have to understand- for the inspection. For all I know, you could be hiding some sort of Muggle dungeon up there."

"We're not," Rose said, wrinkling her nose in disgust. Mr. Saxon chuckled and reached forward to tweak her nose.

"Forgive me if I don't take your word for it," he whispered, before heading to the lift. Rose wiped her nose on her sleeve before following him, all the while imagining several of her Uncle George's inventions for WWW that she could try out on Saxon.

Nothing was said between the two of them as they headed for the lift. The silence was palpable and the tension culd be cut with a knife. Rose knew that if Fred ever got word of how she'd treated Saxon, she'd get an earful, but she couldn't help it.

When the lift opened, Rose took a deep breath, plastered on her best poker face, and gestured for Mr. Saxon to go ahead and take a look.

He tutted. "Oh, no. Ladies first."

Rose bit her lip, but walked out, feeling a tad uncomfortable with him walking behind her. She felt the comforting weight of her wand-holster on her arm, and felt better, but she wondered how much use her wand would be in this room.

Saxon stopped in front of the Wall and took it in. An odd expression crossed his face and he stared back and forth between it and Rose. He eyed her critically and then looked back at the wall one last time.

He let out a low whistle. "So, this is where it all went down, then? The ghost invasion?"

"They weren't really ghosts," Rose corrected, trying to sound as clinical as possible. She was positive that she had failed miserable. "They were Daleks and-"

"Cybermen," Saxon waved away her comment. "Yes, yes. I know. But still! What a day! I was away on holiday, but I've heard stories! Parallel universes, aliens from another world-"

"Hundreds of people died that day," Rose said tersely.

"In this world and as well as yours?" Mr. Saxon asked sharply. Thankfully he wasn't facing her, so Rose caught herself.  
>Mr. Saxon had straightened, though, and Rose had a feeling that, despite the distance between them, he had heard her<br>breath hitch, smell how she had started to sweat a bit, could sense her nervousness-

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Rose said as firmly as she could manage. Mr. Saxon turned sharply on his heel and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Oh, I think you do, Ms. Tyler," he drawled. He clapped his hands together and suddenly looked every inch of the relaxed young man he had been earlier in the tour. "Well! This has been fun! Torchwood certainly seems to be a marvelous place to work! Even if your dress code is a bit, well, lax."

He eyed her derisively and Rose got a bit defensive. "We like casual Friday over here, Mr. Saxon, even if you lot at the  
>Ministry don't."<p>

"It's Tuesday."

"We like to shake things up," she said immediately. Mr. Saxon just chuckled, as though in on some sort of joke.

"I can see that for myself, Ms. Tyler. Thank you for your time. It's been most enlightening. Don't worry. I can show myself out."

Rose should have objected- it was never good to have random blokes wandering the corridors of Torchwood- but she was honestly too confused.

First, there was the mention of psychic energy, something Rose had only ever heard the Doctor say. Of course, calling the Saxon a Time Lord was a bit premature- he could be anyone else who just happened to know a bit more about science or aliens. Besides, she shook his hand earlier and she didn't feel a double pulse. Not that she had ever tried feeling for a double pulse while shaking somebody's hand before, but Rose tried to reassure herself.

Still, there was also the matter of his interest in the Wall. It was more than just being interested in the story. It was as though he could tell there was something going on between her and the Crack.

And his comment about the parallel world...

Rose walked back to her office in a daze. When she got there, Ianto looked up from his computer.

"You were gone for a while," he offered, but she didn't answer him and instead flopped down onto her desk chair. He followed and sat down on her desk, shifting a few pieces of paper off to the side.

"I heard you got to give Saxon a tour," Ianto said eagerly. "What was that like?"

"Weird," Rose said immediately. "Really weird. Not what I thought it'd be. Saxon knew things, Ianto."

"Of course he did," Ianto said amusedly. "He's a politician. It's his job to know things. And if he wants to get things better  
>for us Muggles, he better know a lot."<p>

Rose asked, "What do you know about Saxon?"

"Only the important things," Ianto shrugged, "Like that he's the first Muggle Representative hired that actually seems like he's making a difference."

"I'm telling you, Ianto," Rose argued. "There was something off about him! He was- I don't know- slimy."

"He's a politician," Ianto repeated. "I'd be worried if he wasn't."

"I guess so," Rose muttered. She dropped the matter. It was a delicate thing, after all, especially considering how much Riddle and Saxon had managed to do in such a short time to help improve Muggle rights. Rose didn't want to insult him or broach such a sensitive topic.

Despite Ianto's attempts to get her to tell him about Saxon, Rose kept quite, burying herself in her work, which basically involved organizing anonymous tips to Torchwood. Ianto finally gave up and did the same. They ate lunch in silence and then went right back to work.

Ianto closed up his computer and shrugged on his coat. He looked over at Rose, who was still busily typing away. "Rose, it's time to get home."

"I know," Rose assured him. "I just want to finish this up."

"If you say so," Ianto said hesitantly. "If you stay for longer than twenty minutes, I'll have Joe, the security guard, kick you out."

"Noted," Rose said amusedly. "Now go home, say hello to Lisa and Ianto Jr. for me, and then get some rest."

"Ianto Jr.," he said dreamily. "I like the sound of that."

"I'm sure you do," Rose giggled. "Goodnight, Ianto."

"G'night," Ianto said, grabbing his messenger bag and then leaving. Rose huffed and finished typing up her official report about her encounter with Donna. Rose chuckled, remembering how bold the red-head had been, as she finished sending the document to her higher-ups for review.

Rose got ready to go, pulling on her jacket and scarf, but then stopped. Pursing her lips, she sat back down in the chair and pulled up a basic search engine and began to type.

HAROLD SAXON

She pressed "Enter."

Skimming the new results, she paused when she found his official website. Pulling it open, she skipped past the "Objectives," "News," and "Contact" options and headed straight of the "About" section.

Rose grabbed a Quick Quotes Quill and began to record all of the achievements: his primary school, secondary school, university, sports, awards and so on. She finished and sat back in her chair, looking over her notes.

It was an incredibly impressive record.

A bit too impressive. Especially for a Muggle.

She opened a new window on her computer and began to sift through the official school records. First his primary school, followed by the others.

Sure enough, there was nothing on Harold Saxon.

The more and more she dug, the less and less she found about him. Saxon's entire life was a lie. How had nobody  
>ever figured this out before? Reporters were snoopier than she was, but it seemed as though they hadn't bothered to ask any questions. They had just taken everything Saxon said as fact.<p>

The first real trace Rose managed to find of Saxon was his purchase of the old Cybus cellphone network about six months ago. Nobody had wanted to touch that company after what had happened with the Cybermen, so Saxon had gotten it dirt cheap. He had remade it into the now highly successful Archangel Network, now hailed as a telecommunications breakthrough and a huge advancement for Muggles as there were no wizards employed at the company.

Of course, it wasn't unusual to restrict the employment of companies to only Wizards, and even in this version of London there were some areas that were off limits to Muggles: Diagon Alley, Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic (although not the branch located at Downing Street).

It was revolutionary to restrict the employees of a company to only Muggles, though, since even primarily Muggle companies needed Wizard repairs and enchantments for security.

Acting on a hunch, Rose printed out a copy of the address of Archangel headquarters and put it in her bag.

"Miss Rose?"

Rose looked like a deer caught in the headlights when Joe walked in, eyebrows furrowed.

"You were supposed to have left by now," he said kindly, "On orders of Mr. Ianto."

"Right," Rose said, taking a deep breath. "Thanks for that, then."

She bid him goodnight and left, only one thought burning in her mind:

Who was Harold Saxon and what was he hiding?

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Another chapter! I kinda like this one... It was fun writing Rose and Saxon. I hope I captured the (not-in-anyway romantic) tension between them. Let me know what you think, though!<strong>

**tinyrose65**


	9. Archangel Headquarters

Rose woke up on her day off knowing that today was going to be different. It was nothing more than a hunch, of course, but her hunches had grown more and more reliable since traveling with the Doctor. Whether it was simply experience or something more, she wasn't sure, but she did know that there was something in the air.

She remembered something the Doctor had once told her: _A storm's approaching._

Rose shivered just like she had back then. She told herself it was just the cool floor on her bare feet as she got out of bed, but she knew it was something more.

She dressed quickly and practically, making sure to put on trainers and her wand holster. Just because it was her day off didn't mean she wasn't going to do any investigating. All night she had tossed and turned, wondering what the things she found about Harold Saxon meant. Today, she was determined to find out.

Even if she had to break into the Archangel headquarters to do it.

Of course, because it was her day off it meant was that she didn't have Torchwood's name to back her up if she got caught. If she got caught, it'd be prison. It also meant that she didn't have Ianto to back her up. She had risked getting him enough trouble when she asked him to break into Torchwood. She wasn't going to risk this.

She had a sudden epiphany that this might be how the Doctor felt whenever he tried to send her home... but then cast it out of her mind. Now was not the time.

During the night, Rose had gone through a million and one different plans to try and break into the Archangel headquarters, but had finally cast them all out and simply gone for the direct approach: she was going to walk in.

Uncle Harry and his friends had broken into the MoM in a similar manner in their fifth year. There was no reason they _shouldn't _have been there, after all. Not to mention that she had learnt from the Doctor that if you acted as though you belonged somewhere, most people wouldn't question it. And if they did question it, she did have her Torchwood I.D. She could always lie and say that she was simply following up on Saxon's visit the day before.

Of course, planning was one thing. Actually going through with it, on the other hand, was something else entirely.

Especially now that she found herself standing in front of the rather imposing building that housed the network. Large, all glass, and gleaming, it was a magnificent piece of architecture that was no doubt dressed to the nines in security features.

She took a deep breath and climbed the steps to the entrance. She reached out to open the door, when it opened on its own. Rose jumped back in surprise as a security guard of some sort walked out. His eyes met hers and, for a moment, she was convinced that she was had. Instead, he simply smiled and opened the door wider for her. She gave him a nervous smile and walked inside.

Rose couldn't help but let out a sharp gasp as she entered the lobby. It was just as imposing as the exterior of the building: crisp white walls, tiled floor, sleek black desks at the front. All employees wore well-tailored suits and their wasn't a hair out of place. Rose immediately felt conspicuous in her worn jeans and jumper.

So much for blending in.

Rose straightened and strode forward confidently, though. Another thing she learned from the Doctor: with the right attitude, you could pull of any outfit, no matter what, which is why he rarely ever changed his clothes.

A leather jacket while visiting cavemen? No problem.

A suit in 19th century Scotland? Fine.

Trainers in a posh lobby? She could do it.

There was a turntable to get past the lobby and it looked like only those with clearance could get through. Either that or the woman behind the desk in the lobby had to let them in. So much for avoiding using her Torchwood I.D..

Rose flashed the woman in reception her Torchwood I.D. and said confidently, "Rose Tyler, Torchwood representative. I'm here following up on his inspection from a few days ago."

The woman narrowed her eyes and said, "Mr. Saxon never takes appointments on Saturdays."

"Oh, he doesn't know I'm coming," Rose lied easily. "There was a paperwork mix-up that we need to get sorted. It'll only take a mo'. I'm sure he won't mind. Room 504?"

"803," the woman said sharply. She looked at Rose suspiciously.

"Right," Rose laughed. "5 minutes and 4 seconds was about how long my last boyfriend lasted before I tossed him to the curb. Idiot."

Rose's mom had taught her that if there was one thing that bound all women together, it was insulting the flaws of men.

The woman laughed and suddenly looked much more friendly.

"I'll buzz you in," she assured. She pressed a few buttons on the computer and the light on the turntable turned green.

"Ta!" Rose said as she pushed through it and headed for the lift. She was the only one in it. Her original plan had been to go and snoop around in Saxon's office (there must've been _something _there that would answer her questions), but that plan went out the window when she saw that there was a button there for a _second _basement.

Although Rose's first plan had been rather spur of the moment, too, she wasn't a complete idiot. She had the brains to look at the building's floor plan (mainly to make sure she knew where the exits were, in case she had to make a quick escape). Still, she was pretty sure that there was only_ one _basement on the floor plan.

Rose pressed the button for the basement, but nothing happened. With a frown, she noticed the keyhole next to it and cursed. She considered casting _Alohamora _on it, but had no doubt that Saxon had taken precautions against that.

Rose could've picked the lock (her Uncles Fred and George had taught her how, claiming they had used that particular skill dozens of times while at Hogwarts, one of the most memorable times being when they saved Uncle Harry from the Dursleys), but she didn't have anything on her to do it with.

With a resigned sigh, Rose pressed the button for the eighth floor, deciding to check out Saxon's office, first. If she was lucky, she'd find a key there. When the lift doors opened, Rose took a quick glance around the corridor, pleased to see that she was alone again. She headed straight for Saxon's office.

She passed several rows of cubicles (all empty- it must've been lunch, she decided, because the entire building was so empty) before she got to the main offices on the floor.

_801..._

_802.._

_803!_

Rose hesitantly turned the handle and pushed on the glass door, relieved to find that it opened easily enough. Saxon had left it unlocked. On one hand, that was less work for her. On the other hand, it meant he planned on coming back soon.

She didn't have much time then.

Rose headed straight for the desk, keeping an eye out for anybody who was coming by. The walls of the office were glass, much to Rose's chagrin. It would be just her luck to be caught rummaging through the Muggle Representative's desk drawers.

She wasn't really sure what she was looking for, if she were honest with herself. Some sort of document proclaiming nefarious intentions would be nice. So would some sort of document offering her a perfectly reasonable explanation for everything strange about him. She also wouldn't complain if she found a key to that secret basement.

Rose didn't find any of that.

What she did find was a big, fat, wad of nothing.

In retrospect, Rose couldn't say she was surprised. If Saxon did have something to hide, he most certainly wasn't going to leave it in the unlocked desk drawer of his unlocked office made up entirely of glass walls.

Rose hastily shoved the random documents back into the desk, doing her best to make sure they looked exactly like how she found them.

Then, because she apparently _somehow_ inherited her Uncle Harry's luck (she wasn't really sure how this was possible, since they weren't related by blood, but it must've been true), everything went wrong.

"You're not supposed to be in here!" came an accusing voice from outside the office.

Rose looked up like a deer caught in the headlights, an excuse on the tip of her tongue, when she noticed who exactly it was standing outside the office.

_"Donna?"_

Donna seemed as shocked to see Rose as Rose was to see the red-head.

"You're that girl from Torchwood!" Donna said loudly. Rose shushed her, worried that somebody would overhear. Donna lowered her voice and asked, "_What _are you doing in _Saxon's office?"_

"I could ask you the same thing!" Rose said, for a lack of anything better to say.

"I _work _here," Donna snapped. So she was a Squib, then, Rose realized.

"Oh," Rose said, "Well, that's fine then. Sorry for being so sharp, but you can't be too careful with security. On with your business."

"Alright then," Donna said pleasantly. "Thanks."

Rose blinked in surprise as Donna left. That trick _never _worked, and she should know. She had seen the Doctor try it enough times (and fail just as many). He wouldn't believe that it had worked this one time-

"Hang on!"

-or maybe not.

"I'm not the one who's not supposed to be here," Donna accused, walking back into the room, looking more angry than she had before, "_You _are."

"Well-" Rose began, stuttering, but Donna interrupted her.

"So? Go on then! What's Torchwood investigating now?" Donna asked, sounding much happier than she had only a moment ago. "Aliens taking over our mobiles? Oh! Is it the bees disappearing?"

"Actually, I'm not really here on an official capacity," Rose began, only to stop short. She stared at Donna in confusion. "Whad'ya mean? The _bees _are disappearing?"

"They're just disappearing. I read it online on this conspiracy website," Donna dismissed, with a wave of her hand. She closed the door behind her and moved further into the room, closer to where Rose still stood behind the desk. Rose decided not to bother telling her that since the door was made of glass, closing it was a bit pointless.

"What do _you _mean?" Donna whispered, even though there was nobody to hear them. "'Not here in an official capacity?'"

"It's not important," Rose muttered, trying to move past Donna, but the red-head refused to let her go.

"Torchwood doesn't know you're here, do they?" Donna said, sounding far too excited for her own good.

"No. Alright? They don't," Rose huffed. "Something about Saxon just rubs me the wrong way, alright?"

"I know what you mean!" Donna agreed. Rose gaped at her, in shock. Everybody she had met had nothing but _nice _things to say about Saxon. The fact that she wasn't alone in her suspicions made her feel much better about the entire situation.

"You do?" Rose asked. Donna nodded eagerly.

"'Course, I'm just a temp. Not much I can do around here."

"Well, I haven't exactly been making any headway either." Rose said, tugging Donna along once it became clear that she wasn't going to be left alone anytime soon. They entered the lift and the doors closed. Rose hesitated before pressing the button for the lobby though.

She pointed to the button for the basement. "You know what that's for?"

Donna frowned and shook her head. "No. Sorry. Only Saxon and his _closest _advisors are allowed down there. You need a special key 'n everything."

Rose scowled. "Shame I've got nothing to pick the lock with."

Donna raised an eyebrow. "Or you could, you know, _use the key."_

"I don't have one of those either," Rose retorted. Donna rolled her eyes and reached into one of her pockets. She pulled out a small, brass, key, smirking triumphantly.

Rose demanded, "Where'd you get that, then?"

Donna shrugged. "One of the higher-ups needed me to take some paperwork into one of the restricted parts of the building. He never bothered asking for the key back, so I figured I'd hold onto it."

"And you never thought to use it to go snoop around downstairs?" Rose said.

Donna looked appalled at the very idea. "And get myself fired? Are you mental?"

"Just a minute ago you were tellin' me you thought Saxon was up to no good," Rose protested.

"Yea, but that was just a hunch, ya' know? Anytime I mentioned it to somebody, they thought I was nuts, so I just decided to forget it. Now I know I'm not the only one, it's different, you know?"

Rose couldn't help but agree. Before meeting the Doctor or Jack, she had felt this incredible restlessness that she just couldn't place. Even Al, who had always been able to sympathize with her more than anybody else in the world, didn't understand. Then she got to travel in the TARDIS with two blokes who felt exactly the same way: that there was just so much _out _there that it was torture having to stand still.

"Alright then," Rose said excitedly. _Finally _something interesting was happening- well, maybe. Maybe the floor plans Rose had looked at were just out of date and the basement was just some sort of special, secret, employee lounge.

Possible? Yes.

Probable? Not really.

"Put that key in there and let's go!" Rose ordered Donna.

"Right now?" Donna asked. "What? Just like that?"

"Yea," Rose urged. "C'mon, Donna! You said so yourself that something's wrong! What if it's something _really _bad? When's the last time you had a chance to make a real difference? To _help _people?"

Then, Rose added, "It'll be fun!"

"You've got a weird sense of fun," Donna muttered, but she inserted the key in the lock and then pressed the basement button. The lift began to hum as it carried them downward.

"I can't believe I'm doin' this," Donna said, sounding a bit more keen than she had a moment ago. Rose smiled to herself. She always loved meeting people and watching as they realized that there was so much more to life than just work and telly.

It looked like Donna would be one of those people.

When the lift reached the basement and the doors opened, Donna and Rose stepped out into a long, dark corridor. She and Rose looked around for any sign of movement, but determined they were alone.

"Which way?" Rose asked. Donna pointed to the left.

"I overheard some blokes talkin' about it once," Donna said. "You hear everything as a temp. Nobody pays you any mind."

"Good for us then," Rose whispered, before they fell silent. Rose kept her wand held out in front of her in case somebody happened to find them, but nobody did. Donna and Rose did their best to stick to the shadows until, eventually, they reached a large set of double doors.

The first thing they noticed was that they had entered a massive room. The second that they noticed is that there was nobody there. Donna and Rose relaxed slightly and moved further in, examining the strange objects they saw.

"What is all this stuff?" Donna asked, wrinkling her nose as she picked up a glass beaker.

"It looks like Muggle chemistry stuff," Rose noted, looking at all of the tubes and beakers. She also saw cauldrons and potions ingredients. "And magic stuff, too."

"Whad'ya think they're doing over here?" Donna wondered aloud, looking warily at a bright green goop in one of the cauldrons.

"I'm not really-" Rose began, only to be cut off as the doors opened. She and Donna dashed behind a pile of large crates, trying to hide themselves as best they could. Saxon and several others walked in. Two guards closed the door firmly behind them and then started to stand watch.

"Start the transfer," Saxon said immediately. "But I want it on full power this time."

"Sir, I don't know if that's particularly safe-" one of the men began, but Saxon never let him finish.

"No excuses. Just do it." The two men rushed about, pressing random buttons and pouring some mixtures into others and stirring and adding ingredients.

All Donna and Rose could do was to sit quietly and watch, absolutely fascinated by what was happening. Rose had known that Saxon was smart (that much was obvious both from what she had read and when she had met him), but this was beyond anything she could have ever imagined.

There was a mixture of muggle science and wizarding magic that even her brother, as bright as he was, had never achieved. Only the Doctor had ever been able to do things like that, but that still didn't explain what Saxon was doing.

Saxon was currently looking at a strange, metal contraption that Rose didn't recognize. It was hooked up to several different tubes and Rose watched, awestruck, as slowly the tubes began to glow bright gold-

_Gold._

_Gold light._

_So much gold._

-and appear to disappear into Saxon's mysterious device.

"Rose!" Donna hissed, sounding completely terrified.

Rose turned to assure Donna that everything would be alright, but when she looked, Donna wasn't watching what Saxon was doing. Her fearful gaze was turned on Rose and, when she looked down at herself, Rose realized why.

She was burning _bright _gold. It was only her nerve and practice that kept her from screaming out loud. Thankfully Donna, not completely shocked beyond all belief, managed to slap her hand over Rose's mouth to quiet her loud gasp. Interestingly, the gold didn't move to Donna, but stayed entirely on Rose.

That was when Rose realized that the sensation was actually quite a nice one. The light danced and the gold shimmered softly on and underneath her skin. To Rose, it felt as though she was covered in warm water.

Almost as soon as Rose had grown used to it, though, the feeling changed. The gold seemed to grow hotter, as though it were burning her skin from the inside out. On the outside, the light grew brighter. Rose felt the same heat inside her she had felt at Torchwood when she had fainted at lunch with Ianto.

Again, she felt that same overwhelming sense of loss. She saw more dust in the air, but immediately recognized it as the gold moving from her skin and towards the center of the large room.

She needed to see-

The song in her head grew louder and drowned out everything else-

Donna barely managed to catch her before Rose suddenly dropped like a weight, unconscious. Donna carefully laid Rose on the floor, hesitant about touching her as she shimmered softly. Donna watched the light trail of golden _whatever _it was slide softy off of Rose's skin and away. Following the path it cut in the air, Donna's eyes traced it to Saxon's machine, which was humming even louder then before.

Donna didn't need to be a Torchwood expert to know that this was _bad._

She knelt down next to Rose and began to softly tap her cheeks.

"_Wake up," _she hissed, concerned, although pleased to see that Rose was still breathing.

Behind her, she heard Saxon say, "That's enough. Cut the power."

The machine (or whatever it was) slowly whirred to a stop and Donna watched, not really sure what to make of the situation, as the remaining gold in the air once again gravitated towards Rose, settling on her. For a moment, it stayed brighter than before, but then it sank into her skin, fading first into a light shimmer and then nothing at all.

"_Nice show," _Donna hissed, knowing that it was only a matter of time before they were found. They weren't dumb, after all. If Donna could follow the light trail, so could they. "_But we really need to go before they find us!"_

"I think it's rather too late for that," came a voice from behind her. Donna turned around and gasped as she was hauled up onto her feet by one of the two guards she had seen earlier.

She snapped, "Oi! Watch it! Don't you know how to treat a lady?"

The guard didn't answer, much to Donna's annoyance. Saxon was there, too, watching her curiously. He didn't say anything for a moment, just looking between her and Rose for a few minutes.

Up until now, this entire thing hadn't seemed real. When Donna had first seen that _thing _crash outside her house and heard that her grandfather had seen it, too, she had been ecstatic. Her life had been so boring and she couldn't deny that there was something to be said about a bit of excitement.

To be fair, she had been feeling a bit strange since the entire thing started, but she put it down to nerves.

And then she had found Rose in Saxon's office! Donna wasn't sure why she went along with what Rose was doing, but there was something about her fearlessness and curiosity that Donna wanted- and she _had _thought there was something strange going on at the Archangel headquarters.

Now, though, with Saxon staring down at her... Donna wondered whether or not it had been worth it.

Saxon finally said, "I'm certainly surprised to see you here. I mean, I expected Miss Tyler to arrive sooner or later, but not with a friend. Especially not with a temp."

Donna glared at him, but didn't say anything other than a muttered, "I'm a brilliant temp, thank-you."

"Regardless," Saxon said, "There's still the matter of what to do with you." He snapped his fingers and the other guard easily picked up Rose, carrying her as though she were nothing more than a limp rag-doll. "Take them to the holding cell. Please inform me when Miss Tyler wakes up."

As Donna was dragged away, the man carrying Rose behind her, she called out, "You can't do this! I'm a citizen of this country! _I have my rights!"_

As they were led out the entrance to the room and further down into the corridor that she and Rose had found earlier, Donna managed to get the last word in as the doors closed. She knew Saxon heard her.

"I SHOULD'VE STAYED HOME!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Another new chapter! Yay! Hopefully things are starting to get interesting for you guys... Let me know through reviews and feedback, yea? Please? Regardless, I appreciate the reviews and subscribers and favorites I've gotten already! I give you all giant hugs! *hugs*<strong>

**tinyrose65**


	10. An Unexpected Discovery

It was late. Ianto was tired. However, he refused to go to sleep. He had left Rose at Torchwood with her promise that she would go get some rest, but with no intention of getting any rest himself. He could be a bit of a perfectionist if he wanted, and right now happened to be one of those times.

He just couldn't figure out what it was that had been flowing from the crack the day he and Rose had collected the data. He had tested for the most common forms of energy, but nothing had come up. Right now, he was simply sifting through every test in the book, trying to find some sort of match.

Statistically speaking, he'd have to find something _eventually. _He just hoped that it wasn't too late.

Ianto was interrupted by Lisa coming into the dining room where he had all of the equipment set up on the table. She made a disapproving noise in the back of her throat and came up behind him, gently rubbing his shoulders.

"You're going to work yourself sick," she warned.

He shook his head determinedly, "I don't have a choice. I need to figure this out- it could be very important."

"More important than your very, lonely, wife?" Lisa asked cheekily. Ianto couldn't help but grin to himself. It was moments like these that made him wonder how how he had managed to get so lucky.

"Never," he said truthfully, "But Rose may be in some serious trouble."

Lis raised an eyebrow and stepped back from him, removing her hands from his shoulders. Ianto worried that she was angry from whatever reason, but he was quickly proven wrong when she pulled up a chair next to him and sat down.

"Well, why didn't you say so in the first place?" Lisa asked seriously.

Ianto couldn't help but be incredible proud of her in that moment. They hadn't known Rose for very long, but in the short time they had, the had grown to care about her immensely. At first, for Ianto, it was simple gratitude for the way she treated him at work. As a muggle, it wasn't often that his knowledge was respected (and he had worked hard to acquire that knowledge!). Soon, though, they had grown to become friends. They had similar senses of humor and world views and just got on well. He had eventually learned about her past in the parallel world and with the Doctor. That had only made him (and Lisa, by extension) more determined to be there for her.

Ianto wasn't sure why he was so surprised that Lisa wanted to help Rose. He shouldn't have been. The two of them loved spending time together and were like sisters, at times.

Lisa said, gently, "Tell me what's going on."

So Ianto did. He started out by explaining the strange origins of the crack. Then he went on to explain Rose's odd fascination with it, her fainting, the gold light... He handed his wife the paper with the data they had collected written on it.

She read through it as he explained, "It's some sort of energy, but I don't know which kind it is. I mean, this entire thing should be impossible. The crack definitely leads to the Void, but that's _nothing _in its purest form. I just don't understand..."

Ianto rubbed furiously at his face with his hands, as though that would help an answer magically appear in front of them. He let his head fall to the table, honestly exhausted. Lisa hummed to herself, reading over the data, trying to help.

"So you don't know which sort of energy it is yet?" Lisa clarified.

"No," Ianto said, clearly frustrated. "I've run it through the database and compared it to the most common forms of energy that Torchwood comes across, but that all came back negative. I could- I mean, theoretically, I could just compare it to the _entire _database, but that could take _days, _even _weeks."_

"And you might not have that sort of time," Lisa mused. After a moment's pause, she said, "You think this energy is related to Rose, though?"

"Yes," he said cautiously. "Why?"

"Well, why not start then by comparing this energy to some of her DNA or whatever it is you do in those labs at Torchwood," Lisa said. "Just to be sure."

"That's actually brilliant," Ianto said, "But there's only one problem."

"Oh?" Lisa asked. "What's that, then?"

"I don't have any of Rose's DNA," Ianto said simply. Lisa smirked at him and Ianto couldn't help but grin to himself. "What's that look for?"

She giggled knowingly as she stood up and headed down the hall. He couldn't help but be a bit disappointed at that. It had been nice to have her keep him company, although she must've been tired (it _was _getting late) and Ianto Jr. probably needed his rest...

Lisa startled him by entering the dining room again and holding something out to him. He took it, confused. It was a pink hairbrush.

"What's this?" he asked.

Lisa said, "It belongs to Rose. She left it here a few weeks ago when she stayed the night and I forgot to return it. Surely you'll be able to retrieve some DNA off of that."

"It's moments like these that make me realize just how lucky I am," Ianto said.

Lisa laughed at that. "I must've married the only man in the world that thinks finding retrievable DNA is sexy. Never mind the fact that I'm _carrying _his child. Imagine what she-"

"He," Ianto corrected.

"-_she _will be like when she grows up. Perish the thought."

"_He_," Ianto said firmly, "Will be as brilliant as his father was and when he marries the love of his life and she helps him find retrievable DNA, he'll make sure to reward her _almost _as well as his father rewarded his mother."

Lisa raised an eyebrow. "Is that a promise?"

"Oh, yes," Ianto agreed, before pausing to look down at all the papers on the table and the newfound hairbrush. "Only-"

"It'll have to wait until you're done," Lisa finished. "I understand."

She kissed him on the cheek and bid him goodnight as she left the room. He watched her go with a smile on his face and mentally cursed Rose for being so much trouble. Then he picked up the hairbrush. As usual, his wife was right. He shouldn't have any problems getting some of Rose's DNA off of it. It took him a few false starts, but eventually he managed to find hair _with _afollicle.

He sat back and watched the computer work its magic- figuratively speaking. He huffed and hoped that, wherever she was, Rose was grateful for everything he was doing for her. He could be in bed right now-

Sleeping-

Or something else-

It was a loud beeping from his computer that startled him. He jerked up and looked at the time on the computer. He had _fallen asleep _for almost three hours. No wonder the computer was beeping...

He pulled the results open and skimmed them as quickly as he could, his eyebrows migrating further and further up towards his hairline.

By the time Ianto had finished reading the results, he had only one clear thought: _Fred would like to know about this._

The next morning, however, when Ianto got to work, he realized that this may be a bit harder to accomplish than he had originally thought.

Torchwood was in an uproar. Ianto didn't think he'd ever seen so many employees running around so madly. The one upside to the entire thing was that it seemed Rose had finally listened to him and actually _taken _her day off.

It was a shame she wasn't here, though, in a way, since she would've loved the trouble. Under normal circumstances, chaos like this would be bad enough (if not amusing), but Ianto _needed _get somebody's attention _soon _so he could _tell them what he had found _last night!_._

And what he found had shocked him: aside from the fact that Torchwood equipment had detected minute changes in Rose's

DNA, they had found traces of the same energy in her cells as the energy emanating from the crack in the wall.

That had, of course, sparked another round of tests, but after an exhaustive night of digging, he had come up with nothing, so he decided that it was time to talk to Fred about what he had found. He might get in trouble for keeping it all a secret for so long, but as Rose's "uncle" and head of Torchwood, he had a right to know if something was wrong with Rose.

Of course, that was _if _he could get a _meeting _with Fred. He had come to work only to find that everything had gone pear-shaped. It was more hectic than the day Saxon had arrived for a surprise inspection.

When Ianto managed to reach Fred's office (and what a _pain _that had been, since all the lifts had been jammed with people), he was stopped by the secretary.

Ianto had had run-ins with her before. Her name was Ms. Andrea Dietz and she was almost as prejudiced against muggles as Healer Norton. She was incredibly small, but rather rotund (to put it politely) and had a tendency to wear this bright blue eyeshadow with red lipstick, a combination that Rose loved to complain about.

To be honest, Ianto was a bit afraid of her. Her desk was littered with photographs of this vicious -looking pomeranian (well, Ianto thought it looked vicious, but Rose thought it looked rather adorable). Ianto had never believed in the theory that dogs looked like their owners until he had met Ms. Dietz- with her blonde hair sticking almost straight up in frizzy curls, she looked startlingly like her dog.

It was because of her that Ianto tended to do most of his business with Fred over the phone, but today, the office was unavoidable.

"You can't go in there," she informed him as primly as she could.

"Why not?" Ianto asked incredulously. He had clearance to go anywhere in the building, after all, and he had been to Fred's office plenty of times to inform on Rose and deliver documents and the like.

"That's classified," she told him smugly, before going back to her computer, smacking her gum quite loudly. Ianto scowled. Wizard bigotry got on his nerves sometimes. If it wasn't for people like Rose, he probably would've quit a long time ago.

"I have urgent information for him," Ianto said as calmly as he could. Ms. Dietz still didn't look too inclined to let him in.

"Give the papers to me," she ordered. "I'll deliver them to Mr. Weasley later."

Ianto frowned and looked down at the stack of papers he had in his hand, then back up at her. He couldn't help but say, "I can't, sorry. It's classified."

She colored a bit, although out of anger or embarrassment, Ianto wasn't sure. Instead of asking her about that, he asked, "Why can't I see Fr- Mr. Weasley again? You've seen me go in and out of his office loads of times. He's explicitly told you that I'm to be let in- unless he's got somebody in there with him. He hasn't, has he?"

"No. He's not even _in _his office" Ms. Dietz said impatiently. Seeing Ianto's befuddled expression (Fred was almost always in his office first thing in the morning), she huffed. "Haven't you noticed that Torchwood is in a bit of a flurry today?"

"No, it escaped me entirely," Ianto said as drily as he could manage. Ms. Dietz didn't seem to notice.

"Typical muggle," she scolded. "Not seeing what's right under your nose."

Ianto muttered threats quietly under his breath, but again, Ms. Dietz didn't seem to notice. He was grateful for that, too, since some of the things he was considering were physically impossible, and he had a feeling that she wouldn't react well to them.

"Enlighten me," Ianto said aloud. Ms. Dietz looked all too pleased for once. She had a reputation for being a bit of a gossip, so Ianto wasn't surprised when she even leaned forward and beckoned him to come in closer. Ianto really didn't want to get any closer to her than he had to, but he inclined his head towards her out of politeness.

"New cracks have started to show up," she whispered, before leaning back into her chair and continuing typing on the computer.

Ianto just blinked a bit, very lost. New cracks? Cracks like the in The Wall? New cracks _where? _Did she honestly think that that was enough information?

"Care to elaborate?" he asked.

She turned away from her computer and raised an eyebrow conspiratorially. "You know the crack in The Wall, yes?"

Ianto nodded slowly, thinking of the new information he had on it. Whether or not that information actually turned out to be useful was another matter entirely, but he felt that it wasn't necessary to mention any of that to Ms. Dietz. If he did, it'd be all over Torchwood by the end of the day, and he didn't need wizards like Scorpius Malfoy giving him a hard time.

"Apparently," Ms. Dietz said, "Similar cracks have been showing up all over the place- Wales, Scotland, the United States... even Norway."

"Norway?" Ianto asked absently, his mind already moving in several different directions, the first one being that now he _desperately _needed to get to Fred. "And- Mr. Weasley is where, again?"

"He's meeting with heads of the military and UNIT and other people in the conference room," Ms. Dietz said, waving her hand flippantly, not finding it particularly exciting. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she realized what she had told him.

"Now, hang on!" Ms. Dietz called out, but Ianto was already well on his way to the conference room. He didn't care who was there. Fred was going to hear what he had to say one way or another.

Of course, by the time Ianto reached the conference room, is confidence had depleted a bit. These were, after all, some of the most powerful men and women in the world. And, much to Ianto's despair, all wizards. Fred may be more than willing to hear him out _most of the time_, but that was generally in private and _not _in front of respected colleagues and the like.

Taking a deep breath and trying to find confidence in the fact that he had a _very _valid point to make, Ianto opened the doors to the conference room, not even bothering to knock. The silence as he stood there in the doorway was deafening, and Ianto could feel a dozen pairs of eyes on him.

There were about ten wizards (that Ianto had never seen before in his life) seated around the massive table in the center of the conference room, in addition to Fred and several other higher-ups from Torchwood- and Scorpius Malfoy.

Ianto resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

None of them looked too pleased to see him. As a matter of fact, they all looked very frazzled, no doubt stressed about what was going in.

Fred, in particularly, looked ready to throw him out a window.

Still, Ianto stood his ground. He cleared his throat, desperate to break the uncomfortable silence, and said, "I, ah, have some information that I think you may all find interesting."

"That's very good, Mr. Jones," Fred said tersely. "If you'd like to wait for me in my office, I'd be more than happy to discuss it later. However, we happen to be in the middle of a crisis, if you haven't noticed."

"I know," Ianto said as cooly as he could manage. "New cracks have begun to show up-"

"More than that," one man interrupted, wearing a thick beard and a thicker American accent. "They're identical to each other in size and shape, and all formed at the same time. Some of them are in walls, some on rock formations, some of them in the air, even, but all have been found in areas where there is a known weakness in the walls between dimensions."

"Right, yes," Ianto stuttered, "Thank-you for the summary. However, I believe what I have is relevant to the situation. You see, I've been running some tests on the original crack we have here at Torchwood One-"

"There's a crack here at Torchwood One?" another voice cried, this time coming from a rather skinny woman.

"I was- I was just about to get to that," Fred said, scowling in Ianto's direction. He grinned sheepishly.

His grin was ripped off his face as Scorpius butted in by saying, "Who authorized you to run those tests anyway? We can't just have _muggles _running around using delicate equipment like that."

Ianto stuttered uselessly in the face of disapproving looks, finally blurting out the only thing he could think to say. "There seems to be some sort of energy emanating from the crack we have in The Wall."

The murmuring that followed this surprising declaration made Ianto feel slightly better about the entire situation.

Fred, looking less irked with him, asked, "What sort of energy?"

"I have no idea," Ianto admitted. "I've run every test I could think of. Everything has come up negative. Whatever this energy source is, it seems to be unknown."

There was more muttering as officials turned to each other and debated what could be happening. Ianto chose this moment to move in closer to Fred.

"There's something else," he whispered quietly, so he wouldn't be overheard by the others. Fred nodded to have Ianto continue. Ianto explained, "The energy seems to be connected to Rose, somehow- I found traces of it in her DNA and it's just all very strange."

Ianto had been doing his best to be quiet, but it didn't seem as though he had been quiet enough. The American from earlier demanded, "Rose? Who's Rose?"

Fred and Ianto exchanged looks, neither willing to oust their friend, but Scorpius had no such scruples. He said, rather suspiciously, "Rose Tyler. She's one of the workers here at Torchwood. She heads her own team. Are you- Are you saying that she's involved in this?"

The American spoke. "I heard them talking. This energy stuff is apparently coming from her."

"No, no, no," Ianto corrected immediately. "It's not originating from her. It's originating from the crack. There does, however, seem to be some sort of connection- although it's all very uncertain- hardly conclusive-"

"If this girl has something to do with this mess," another woman piped up, "We need to get her in here!"

"It's her day off," Ianto protested weakly, but it seemed as though chaos had again descended on Torchwood and Ianto found himself eternally grateful that Rose wasn't here for this.

Despite his attempts, Ianto went unheard over the clamor, the reigning opinion seeming to be that they needed to find Rose and bring her to Torchwood. Judging by Fred's expression, it seemed as though the two were in agreement: if Rose came back to Torchwood anytime soon, things would not end well for her.

Ianto had no idea where Rose was right now or _what _she was up to (and she was almost always up to something), but he hoped that for once in her life she just stayed put and didn't go wandering off.

Ianto couldn't help but snort to himself.

As though _that _was ever going to happen.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Here's the next chapter! I really hope you enjoy it! I like writing from Ianto's point of view... it gives me a bit of a break from writing Rose all the time. <strong>

**As for the next chapter? Well, you'll get Donna and Rose and Saxon, and maybe even a glimpse of the Doctor. Finally :P**

**In the meantime, keep up the feedback! ****Reviews are love. Just sayin'.**

**tinyrose65**


	11. The Master

It had been a horrible day and, judging by the way it was going, Donna assumed that it wasn't going to get any better. After being kidnapped by _Harold Saxon _of all people, she found herself in some sort of holding cell with Rose Tyler, who was still unconscious and laying on a cot.

At first, Donna had been worried that Rose was dead, but thankfully she seemed to be breathing. Donna found herself watching the younger girl constantly, not really sure what to do now and hoping that Rose would wake up soon. Donna wasn't sure how long she sat in that cell for, but it must've been hours of staring at the wall before some movement broke her out of her stupor.

The rustle of fabric made Donna start and look at the cot across hers in surprise. Rose was stretching, reaching her hands up to rub her face. Donna asked cautiously, "Rose? Are you alright?"

Turning over on her cot, Rose blinked blearily at Donna, clearly still half asleep. "D-Donna?" she asked, yawning. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Donna asked nervously. She had no idea how she'd explain the entire thing to Rose. Much to her relief, Rose seemed to be slowly coming around, her eyes growing wider and wider witch each passing moment.

"Please tell me that was all a dream," Rose begged, sitting up straight in her cot, only to clutch her head when the movement made her dizzy. With her other hand, she tried to access her wand holster, only to realize that both it and her wand were gone. Saxon must've taken them.

"If by 'that' you mean sneaking in Saxon's evil headquarters and seeing some freaky science experiment where you turned all glow-y," Donna said, "Then no. It wasn't."

"That was by far some of the best nut-shelling I've heard in a while," Saxon crooned, walking into the cell, Donna and Rose both turning to glare at him. He frowned, feigning disappointment. "Oh, my. You don't look too happy to see me."

"Sorry," Rose scowled. "We'll remember to break out the confetti next time."

"I'm going to excuse your attitude this one time," Saxon said mildly, "And assume that it's just a side-effect of your little energy transfer. Alright?"

"Her _what _transfer?" Donna interrupted.

"Her energy transfer," Saxon said with a huff, as though she should've known this all along. Then he took in Rose's and Donna's blank expressions and started to smile. "But- oh! You don't know, do you?"

Judging their still blank expressions, Saxon took their silence as a "no."

"Have you ever heard of Huon particles, Miss Tyler?" Saxon asked.

"Should she have?" Donna interrupted, unwilling to be left out of the conversation. Saxon turned to look at her, slightly surprised, as though he had forgotten she was in the room. Donna refused to back down.

Saxon finally said, "Yes, she should, considering they've been inhabiting her body for quite some time. I'd say, what? Almost three years."

"What?" Rose gasped, moving her hand up in front of her face. She stared at it, long and hard, as though it might explain for her what Saxon was talking about. Much to her dismay, it remained utterly normal.

"Huon particles," Saxon said, "Are a type of energy that existed long ago, during the Dark Times of the universe."

"Then what're they doin' in me?"

"That's a fair question," Saxon conceded, leaning against the wall, head tilted upwards in contemplation. "Huon energy was destroyed by the Time Lords a very long time ago. Until recently, Huon particles could only be found in the heart of a TARDIS, and even then, only a small amount. And now, after- well. By all accounts, they shouldn't exist."

"How do you know about the Time Lords?" Rose asked shakily. Donna wasn't entirely what a Time Lord was, but for the first time since Donna had met her, Rose looked scared. _Properly _scared.

"Oh, silly girl," Saxon chuckled. "You still haven't figure it out yet, have you?"

He stood up from the wall and moved over to where Rose was still sitting on the cot, weakened by what had happened earlier. Saxon smirked as he stood over her.

"How do I know about the Time Lords?" he repeated. He knelt down so he was eye-level with Rose and answered his own question, "Because _I am one."_

"That's impossible," Rose said, but even as she said it, she knew that he wasn't lying. She'd had her suspicions, after all. He had called magic a manipulation of psychic energy. He'd known that she was from another dimension. And, as much as she'd like to believe that it was possible for a muggle to do the things that he had done in so short a time, she knew it wasn't.

But for a Time Lord?

Well, she had seen the Doctor do the impossible time after time. She could easily believe that a Time Lord _posing _as a muggle could advance through the ranks as quickly as Saxon.

"What's a Time Lord?" Donna demanded. "What's he talkin' about?"

"The Time Lords are my people," Saxon snapped. He paused and then shrugged. "Well, _were _my people, I suppose."

"Your-?" Donna began, and then stopped. Suddenly she shrieked, "Oh my god! You're an alien!"

"You shouldn't be alive," Rose argued. "I mean, the Time War..."

"Oh, yes. The _war," _Saxon mused. "They called me back, you know. To fight. I was there until the very end. In fact, I was the one who ended it. I watched Gallifrey _burn_."

Rose had heard the Doctor talk about the Time War. Not much, but occasionally. Very, very rarely. He was horrified, guilty. Saxon, though... Saxon seemed reverential almost.

"All that power," he was muttering to himself. "I held their fate in the palm of my hand-"

"But how did you end up _here_?" Rose interrupted, feeling a bit sick to her stomach. "On _Earth?"_

"There was a bit of a problem with the Time Lock," Saxon said, with a wave of his hand. "Long story. You wouldn't understand. I was thrown through time and landed here."

"You were what I saw!" Donna exclaimed. "Me and grandda! That shooting star thing a few months ago! And that weird cloth we found!"

"That robe was too stuffy, anyway," Saxon dismissed.

Personally, Rose didn't know what a Time Lock was or what Saxon was doing wearing a robe during a war (although it explained the strange scrap of cloth that Donna had found by her house), but now Rose understood something she had been wondering about.

"That's why the Doctor didn't sense you the last time he was here!" she whispered to herself. At least, she _assumed _that was why. Whatever a Time Lock did, getting thrown around by one seemed like something that would affect the Doctor's Time Lord senses... or whatever they were called.

Saxon raised an eyebrow. "Now hold on just a tick. How do you know the _Doctor_?" Saxon spat out his name.

For some reason, Rose hadn't expected Saxon to know who the Doctor was. Or the parallel version of the Doctor, she supposed. Even if there _was _a parallel version of the Doctor (and until this point, she hadn't been sure), there was very little chance that Saxon'd know of him.

"Better question: how do you?"

"I asked you first."

"I asked you second!"

Donna just boggled at them.

Saxon thought about whether or not he should answer Rose's question. Finally he said, "We grew up together. Attended the Academy at the same time. Your turn."

Rose didn't really know where to start. She was truly at a loss for words, so she stuttered.

"You know what?" Saxon said, saving her, much to her surprise, "Why don't I guess? There aren't many options, anyway. The Doctor is dead. He died in the Time War."

It didn't matter that this wasn't _her _Doctor they were talking about. Hearing Saxon say that the Doctor was dead _hurt._

"I kept a fairly good eye on him for most of his life, so I know he never met _you. _So how do you know his name?" Saxon continued, scratching his chin as he considered the answer. Finally, his eyes lit up. "Oh! I think I know!"

"Do you?" Rose tried to keep her voice steady, but it shook anyway.

"We aren't talking about the same Doctor. The Doctor _you _know is from a parallel universe. _Your _parallel universe, to be exact."

"What's he talkin' about?" Donna asked Rose when the younger girl didn't try to defend against Saxon's accusations (she couldn't, after all, because he was smart and a Time Lord and would no doubt see right through her). "Parallel universe? What? Like in the movies?"

"Somethin' like that," Rose told Donna.

Saxon tutted. "Tell her _everything, _Ms. Tyler."

"Weasley," Rose said firmly. Screw it. He already knew so much. No point in denying anything else.

"Pardon?" Much to Rose's delight, it looked as though she had caught him off-guard for the first time.

"My name," Rose drew in a deep breath, "is Rose _Weasley. _I'm the daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley. I have a younger brother named Hugo and my cousin, Albus Severus Potter, is my best mate. I'm from another universe, where I knew the Doctor. Where I _traveled _with the Doctor. "

Donna looked at Rose as though she had never seen the girl before in her life. Rose felt bad that Donna had to find out this way (she seemed very nice, and Rose had gotten the impression that they could've been good friends), but there was nothing else for it.

Saxon, on the other hand, looked rather excited. "The Time Lords? They're _alive _in your parallel universe?"

"What does it matter?" Rose demanded, deciding to keep the fact that the Time Lords were gone to herself for now. "The breach is closed. No way back. You're stuck here on Earth just like the rest of us. You think you're so high and mighty, but you forget you've been livin' like a regular person- a "Muggle"- for all this time. And you know what? I'm not afraid of you, Mr. Saxon. Not one bit.

"That was a very nice speech," Saxon congratulated. "But you should be afraid."

"Why?" Rose argued. She turned to Saxon, trying to convert her fear into anger or bravery or anything at all other than the crippling ball of tension that had now settled in her stomach. "You 'aven't done anything that I should be afraid of! Kidnapping? I've been kidnapped loads of times."

"Oh, this is _so _much bigger than you, Ms. _Weasley._"

"What's it about then?" Rose demanded. "Go on! I've heard it all! _What?_"

"The Huon particles." Saxon said.

"Huon particles!" Rose exclaimed, only to be stopped short. Alright, so she _hadn't _heard that one before. "That energy in me? What about it?"

"As it turns out, Huon particles are crucial to the inner workings of a TARDIS." Saxon told her. It took Rose a moment to figure out what Saxon was implying.

"You- you want to _build _a TARDIS?" she asked incredulously. "But TARDIS's are _grown, _not made."

"Very good! It's nice to see that you're not completely ignorant." Saxon looked a bit impressed. "I crash landed here in my own TARDIS. The shell is still intact, even if the Chameleon Circuit is broken- the darn thing is stuck in the shape of an ice cream truck. It's been a pain keeping young brats away. The "soul" of the TARDIS, to put it simply, is alive as well. But it took quite a bit of power to ride the waves from the Time Lock. She's drained now."

"So you need energy?" Donna clarified. "To make this _TARDIS_ thing go? What _is _a TARDIS? It's not even a real word!"

"It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space," Saxon and Rose answered together. They glared at it each other.

"What kind of name is _that?"_

"It's- well, _she _is- a time machine, Donna," Rose said gently.

"Oh," Donna said dumbly.

Taking advantage of Donna's momentary silence, Saxon said, "I could get ahold of Atron energy without any trouble. It tends to cling to most time travelers-" That, at least, was something else Rose was familiar with. "-And with you wizards whizzing about with your primitive, little Time-Turners, it was no trouble at all harnessing some Atron energy from some Ministry workers. The Huon particles were a bit more troublesome, so I must thank you for that, Ms. Weasley."

"I try," Rose said sarcastically.

"If you really are trying to build a 'TARDIS' or whatever," Donna pointed out, "Why go through all the trouble of becoming Muggle Representative?"

"Everybody needs a hobby." Saxon shrugged. Then, suddenly, he seemed incredibly animated, "And, since I never thought I'd be able to get the TARDIS functioning properly again, ruling the Eart seemed nice. Muggle Representative was _such _a nice stepping stone, and so ironic! Don't you agree? Muggles being represented by somebody who is _clearly _their superior in _every way? _They wanted their representative to do something big, so I thought, 'I'll give them big, alright!'

"That was all before, of course," Saxon sniffed, reigning himself in just as suddenly as he'd exploded.

"What changed?" Donna followed up.

Saxon snapped, "I thought we'd just gone over this!"

"The Huon particles, Donna," Rose interjected, before Saxon did something rash. Seeing Donna's still blank expression, Rose elaborated. "He needed them to make the TARDIS work, but they were all gone until I showed up."

"From your parallel universe?" Donna finished hesitantly.

"Exactly!" Rose beamed, glad that Donna seemed to be keeping up. She knew how difficult it could be when you were thrown into this sort of thing. "That's when he changed his plans."

Still, Donna looked hesitant, but she finally mustered up the nerve to tell Saxon, "Eventually somebody is going to find out what you're up to!"

Saxon laughed, as though he had never heard anything more hilarious in his life. Through his laughter, he managed to choke out, "That's what the Archangel network is for. You didn't think it _really was _a communication revolution or whatever they're calling it these days?" He seemed delighted at their befuddlement. "Oh you _did! _Well, you were wrong, quite clearly. If I wanted to become Muggle Representative- and then go further than that- I needed people to _trust _me. The Archangel Network emits a weak signal of four drumbeats, which tell people to do just that. It can also be converted to emit a low-level psychic field if need be, but you apes are so primitive that simple hypnosis was all that was needed. "

"That's _horrible," _Rose gasped.

"You're the only one who seems to think so," Saxon retorted. "Well, the both of you, which really is _quite _annoying. You, Ms. Weasley, for reasons I have yet to understand- The parallel world? The Huon particles interfering?- and _you, _Ms. Donna Noble, affected by the temporal backlash when I crashed near your house. Both of you are no longer as susceptible by simple hypnosis."

"I knew I couldn't trust you," Donna said hotly.

"Why else do you think you get that job?" Saxon raised his eyebrows. "I needed you close by. To keep an eye on you. I should've just killed you."

Donna's face flushed in anger and Rose quickly stepped in. No need to have either of them doing something rash.

"How _did _you know that I came from a parallel world?"

"You didn't think I was a complete fool, did you?" The Master snorted. "A mysterious source of energy that should no longer exist? Of course I _tested _it first. I detected-"

"Void stuff," Rose said in realization.

The Master wrinkled his nose in faintly veiled disgust. "I _suppose _you could call it that. After I detected it, I managed to trace the energy back to you- who _must've _come in during the invasion, before the breach closed. You _baffle _me, Rose Weasley. Even if the Time Lords continue to exist in your world, those Huon particles _inside_ _of_ _you_ shouldn't even exist."

Rose's mind had been turning the entire time and she smiled slowly. "You wanna know how I've got Huon particles in me, Mr. Saxon? Do you _really _want to know?" Saxon didn't say anything, but Rose knew that the curiosity was eating up at him. "When I was traveling with the Doctor back home, I looked into the heart of the TARDIS. That's where I reckon' the Huon particles came from. When I looked into her heart and she looked into mine."

"No human could survive that," Saxon denied. "You would've burned."

"The Doctor saved me," Rose said softly. "He always saves me."

"He doesn't seem to be saving you now," Saxon goaded. "You've been trapped here for how long? A year? More? Your Doctor seems to have forgotten you, Ms. Weasley."

Her voice died in her throat as Saxon voiced one of her biggest insecurities. She didn't fault the Doctor for not coming for her. Rose knew the breach couldn't be opened without destroying the universe (or something to that effect). Still, Rose couldn't help but wonder whether or not he had _forgotten _her.

How long had it been for him?

Had he gotten a new companion? She hoped he had. Rose hated to think of the Doctor all alone. Hopefully Al and Hugo (_Oh, Al and Hugo and how were they and what did they tell her parents and...) _would make sure he was alright.

"It doesn't matter how Rose got that energy stuff," Donna argued, seeing that Rose was currently speechless. "You draining it from her is _hurting _her."

"I don't care about her," Saxon shrugged. "You're both meaningless. I needed the Huon energy to run the TARDIS. A few lives are nothing in the bigger picture."

"And what _is _the bigger picture?"

"The usual, of course. Once I have my TARDIS, I won't be limited to your primitive little planet. So I've decided to take over the universe."

Following that dramatic statement, there was an even more dramatic bang as the door to the holding cell flew open, hitting the wall. Saxon whipped around angrily and glared at one of his subordinates.

"_What?_" Saxon demanded. "What could be so important that you had to interrupt me _now _of all times, hm?"

The young man stuttered. "You're going to want to see this for yourself, Mr. Saxon...uh, sir. I can't really explain it."

"Try," Saxon ordered.

The worker and Saxon moved over to corner and started whispering. Neither Rose or Donna could hear what they were saying to each other, but Saxon's face grew extremely pale and his hands started to shake. He didn't even bother saying anything to his prisoners before running out the door, the worker following and closing the door firmly behind him. There was the faint click of the lock.

"Saxon really is completely barmy, ain't he?" Donna gaped.

Before Rose could answer, the door opened again and Saxon popped his head in, looking slightly more composed, but still very tense.

"By the way, please. Call me the Master."

Then he was gone, leaving Donna and Rose alone in their cells, wondering what exactly it was that had Saxon- or, rather, the Master- so terrified.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So, I sort of owe you two apologies. One for the long wait between updates and the other for not including the Doctor like I said I would. The reason for this is because this chapter ended up being <strong>**_so. Darn. Complicated. _**** I thought it'd be shorter, but there were too many loose ends to tie up... Anyway, I hope you enjoy it regardless.**

**Happy reading :)**

**tinyrose65**

**p.s. Thanks to all the reviews and favorites I received in the mean time! I'm glad to know that people are still interested in this story!**


	12. Dinosaurs in London

The Doctor, Jack, Al, and Hugo managed to make it to the control room, gasping for air. The Doctor switched on the controls and sent them into the Vortex, before slumping up against the console. Al and Hugo were each perched against a coral strut. Jack had given up all pretenses of energy and flopped lazily in the Captain's Chair.

"Well," the Doctor said, able to regain his breath much more quickly thanks to his respiratory bypass system, "That didn't go as planned."

The three glares he got made him realize that his comment was truly unwarranted.

In truth, it all would've worked out had it not been for the Doctor's impressive ability to put his foot in his mouth. He had inadvertently insulted some important deity or other, leading the foursome to high-tale it to the TARDIS as fast as they could, all the while being chased by a rather angry group of Native Americans.

The Doctor, though, was nothing if not cheerfully optimistic (some, like Hugo, would say 'daft').

"Ready to try again?"

"As long as I don't have to move for a good, long while," Jack muttered, entirely unwilling to move from the Captain's Chair.

"Nah," the Doctor said easily, "The TARDIS and I will do all the work: pull some buttons, push some levers- Wait, no. Sorry. Strike that. Reverse it. 'Push some levers, pull some buttons.' Better."

Albus just watched fearfully. _This _was their driver? "Sometimes I swear you don't know how to drive this thing."

"_She," _the Doctor stressed. "The TARDIS is a she. And I know how to pilot her, even if I didn't pass my exams-"

"Oh, bloody-"

"-she just doesn't always listen, is all," the Doctor continued, oblivious to the fact that all blood seemed to have left Albus's face. Instead, he focused on the flickering of lights in the console room and the feeling of a vague irritation pressed into his mind. He tutted to his ship, "Hey, hey, hey. Easy. No need getting like that with me. It's true. You never take me where I want to go. You know you don't."

The Doctor paused for a moment and Jack eyed him curiously. The previous regeneration of the Doctor had to talked to the TARDIS, too, but perhaps not as openly. Jack wasn't too surprised, though, as this regeneration was much chattier than the previous one.

"Well, yes, you do always take me where I need to go I suppose," the Doctor admitted. "But this time, I need you to take me where I tell you. We need to get Rose back."

The Doctor was suddenly hit full force an overwhelming warmth and with an image of Rose, one that both haunted his dreams and made his hearts sing. It was her, that night on the Game Station, bathed in the golden light of the TARDIS with all of Time to command. The Doctor had known that since that night, the TARDIS had felt very strong affection for Rose (she had always been fond of her, the Doctor supposed), but hadn't realized _how _strongly the TARDIS felt until now.

"That's my girl," the Doctor crooned, dialing several buttons with a pronounced flourish, sending them off.

The TARDIS, though, may have agreed to get the Doctor to Rose, but she was apparently still a but testy about the Doctor's attitude. In retaliation, she made her landing particularly rough, jolting the Doctor and his companions sharply enough that they all landed in heaps on the floor.

The TARDIS sent a mental apology to his companions, hoping they could feel it, but ignored the Doctor entirely. He had, after all, deserved it.

Oh, sure, she knew that the Doctor loved her -and she him- and her Time Lord always did the best he could to keep her happy and running smoothly (something a lesser Time Lord would not have managed half so well, considering the scarcity of the supplies), but it was different with his companions. Especially the pretty one: the pretty one was always complimentary, even though he felt so _wrong _now, wrong enough for her to run away, to protect her Time Lord and her heart in human form-

The TARDIS had felt particularly bad about this running off, too, especially since the _pretty_ one was always so, very, _nice _to her.

All four of them (Time Lord and human alike) were completely unharmed. The Doctor, sensing that the TARDIS was still a bit annoyed with him, wisely didn't say anything. Instead, he stood up and brushed himself off, straightening his coat as he did so.

"Here we are!" He beamed. He pulled his glasses on and checked one of the monitors mounted on the console. He "hm'ed" and "oh'ed" to himself for a minute.

Hugo, losing his patience, asked, "Are we there or not?"

"It looks like," the Doctor said distractedly. He tapped gently on the screen. "But- Hullo! What's going on, eh, girl? You seem a bit off. All this parallel travel getting you down?"

The TARDIS rumbled something akin to shrugging her (metaphorical) shoulders.

"Don't worry! Quick pop outside, grab Rose, and we'll be home in no time at all!" The Doctor assured, flicking the screen off. "Allons-y, then, you lot!"

The Doctor threw open the doors to the TARDIS and sauntered outside, almost vibrating with excitement. The three left inside the TARDIS heard him make a rather disappointed exclamation and all wandered outside to see what it was.

Much to their relief, it did seem as though they had landed in the right place this time. 21st century London was certainly recognizable. For a moment, then, it took them all a moment to see what it was that had made the Doctor so upset and caused the concerned frown that now marred his face. Everything _seemed _fine, after all. It was a pleasant evening, if a bit chilly, and there was no sign of a massive alien invasion (such as screaming, spaceships, and so on).

It was Jack who placed it. "It's completely deserted."

And it certainly was. Not a soul could be seen wandering the streets. The Doctor opened his mouth, perhaps to ask why, when a loud roar interrupted him. Jack turned and saw the last thing he ever expected to see in twenty-first century London - even _parallel _twenty-first century London.

Dinosaurs. And _angry _ones to boot. They were lumbering towards the group, but didn't look as though they had seen them yet. The Doctor seemed unconcerned.

"Oh, _dinosaurs!" _The Doctor chirped. "I haven't seen those in _years! _Blimey! Aren't they beautiful?"

"Those don't happen to be vegetarian, do they, Doctor?" Jack asked, as one of the dinosaurs finally saw them.

"Nope!" The Doctor said happily. "Definitely carnivores!"

"Then how about I make a suggestion?" Jack offered. "Run!"

If the dinosaurs hadn't noticed them before, they were noticed now with Jack's loud proclamation. The Doctor needed no further encouragement as he and the other turned tail and ran as fast as they could.

"God, I missed this!" laughed Jack, grinning widely at the Doctor as they took a sharp left. The Doctor laughed and backed them down a small side street. Albus, spotting a bridge and hoping it would provide them with a bit of cover, pointed the others toward it. They all hunched underneath it and tried to catch their breath as quietly as they could. The dinosaurs, clearly having lost them, wandered above them, their steps rattling the infrastructure.

The Doctor held his fingers to his lips, urging the others to be quiet. They needed no further encouragement.

The dinosaurs seemed to pause for a moment. The tension grew as the group waited to discovered and, inevitably, start running again. For once, however, it seemed as though the universe were on there side. The dinosaurs seemed to decide that the group was nowhere nearby and continued onward. Once the dinosaurs were a safe distance away, everybody released the breaths they had been holding.

"Well, that was new," Al said, slumping against the wall. "Were they here the last time you visited?"

Hugo shook his head. "No. _Definitely _not."

"So what do we do now?" Jack asked the Doctor. The Doctor frowned. He had thought (read _hoped _despite all evidence to the contrary) that getting Rose back would be relatively simple once he'd figured out how to reach Fred's world. As he had no been proven _horribly _wrong, the first thing he had to do was get somewhere safe.

He told Jack so and added, "If we can make it back to the TARDIS-"

"You mean back where the dinosaurs came from?" Albus asked. "Right. I'm not sure that's the best idea you've ever had."

"Then where do _you _think we should go?" The Doctor pouted.

"Diagon Alley," Albus said immediately. "You said that even in this world it was for wizards only, right? It'd be safe and we can apparate there."

It was rather fortunate that apparation worked both between parallel worlds and through time.

"Works for me," Hugo agreed. Jack couldn't help but make a face, thinking back to the first and only time he had ever apparated. It had been when he first met the Doctor and Rose, during World War II, and Rose had taken him and the Doctor back to his ship to escape from the gas-mask children. It had also been one of the worst experiences of his life and _that _was saying something.

"Do we _have _to?" he whined. Al's response, at the Doctor's nod, was to grab Jack by the arm, holding him firmly, and apparating him to Diagon Alley, Hugo close behind with the Doctor. When the spots cleared from Jack's vision and he was able to regain his breath, he eagerly began to drink in the sight of Diagon Alley. He had never been, after all, and only read about it in some of the books he'd found in the TARDIS library. Even if this wasn't the same Diagon Alley back home, it was still _something. _It wasn't like anything he imagined, though.

There was certainly no shortage of people, but they weren't the eager shoppers or workers that Jack had always imagined them to be. Honestly, if Jack were to characterize Diagon Alley right now, he'd say it looked more like a refugee camp than anything else. There were people lined up, ready to receive medical attention or food or clothing. There were people of all ages huddled inside shops, which looked as though they had been transformed into shelters.

The Doctor, like Al and Hugo, wore an aghast expression. "What in the-"

He was cut off by an extremely pudgy, extremely professional looking wizard in dark red robes coming up to them. A piece of parchment and a Quill floated behind him, no doubt ready to take notes.

"Refugees?" the man asked immediately in a no-nonsense tone.

"Ah-"

"Are you refugees?" the man demanded again. "Or volunteers?"

It was Hugo's turn to be confused. "Refugees from _what?"_

The man looked incredibly annoyed. "I have no time for _games. _Answer the question! A simple 'yes' or 'no' will suffice!"

Jack, quickly deciding on a course of action, since the others still seemed a bit frozen said, "Yes! Yes! Sorry! Just in shock. We got chased by some dinosaurs a few blocks down."

"Well, naturally," the man sniffed, clearly unimpressed. "They always wander around there during this time of day. Have you not been reading the warnings?"

Their blank faces answered his question for him and the little man sighed. Mumbling something to quill about _this _being why there were so many casualties, he turned back to the group.

"So the enchantment has just worn off, then?" the little wizard asked. The Doctor just nodded, afraid of being yelled at again. The quill took down some more notes.

"Names?"

"Sorry?" the Doctor asked.

"Your _names."_

"Oh, well, I'm Hugo- Smith, this is Albus, ah, Green," Albus said, thinking quickly. Hugo did his best not to snicker at the names. "This is Jack Harkness and the Doctor."

As the quill wrote down their names, the wizard turned to the Doctor and said, "I presume you're a muggle then?"

"If you like," the Doctor said breezily. Seeing the man's displeasure, he added, "I mean, yes. Definitely yes. As muggle-y as they come."

"Thank-you. Obviously muggles aren't generally allowed in Diagon Alley, but considering the circumstances, that ban has been lifted for the time being. Sorry, your full name again? Dr.- what was it?"

"Just the Doctor," the Doctor said firmly. The man scowled, the tips of his ears turning red in anger.

"I can't just put down _"doctor" _can I?" he asked. The Doctor not realizing that the question was rhetorical, asked, "Why not?"

"It's not a name!" the other man argued.

The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest and pouted. "It _is _a name! _My _name! And a perfectly good one at that!"

"Look," Jack said, breaking in, "Why don't you both just calm down, alright?"

"I am _perfectly calm!_" The wizard began, sounding anything _but. _Before he had a chance to continue, though, a younger, leaner, and more well dressed man came up behind him, resting his hand on the smaller man's shoulders.

"Please calm down, Mr. Carlton. I'll take it from here," the second man said in a Welsh accent. Carlton didn't look thrilled, but didn't argue. Judging by the way he stalked off, Jack guessed that this new man was of a hire rank than he was.

"You're the Doctor," the new man said, sounding both disbelieving and relieved.

"That's what I was trying to tell him," the Doctor said.

"Forgive him," the new man said. "He can be a bit of a perfectionist, not to mention he's been working for several days straight, now."

"Seems a lot to ask," Jack said, letting out a low whistle. "You must have some very dedicated workers-?"

"Ianto. Ianto Jones. And we do," Ianto agreed. "But that's not surprising considering the circumstances."

"What circumstances?" Al asked.

At the same time, Hugo asked, "What _exactly _is going on here?"

Ianto seemed surprised. "Oh. You don't know. I'm sorry. I just assumed that given the Doctor's reputation you all would- But, no, I don't see how you would, then. That must mean you've just arrived here."

"We have," the Doctor said, all traces of annoyance from his earlier encounter gone. Now he spoke with a slight guardedness in his voice, which Jack didn't blame him for. This _Ianto _-despite being ridiculously good looking- obviously knew of them.

That begged the question of _how._

"Then there's a lot I'll have to bring you up to speed on," Ianto said firmly. "If you'll follow me, we can go somewhere more private."

"Now, hold on!" the Doctor protested, planting his feet firmly on the ground, a clear indication that he had no intention of going anywhere. Ianto turned around and faced him, his face questioning. "You seem to have a pretty clear idea of who I am. What I'd like to know is who _you are, _Mr. Ianto Jones, and how you came to know about me."

Ianto seemed surprised that the Doctor hadn't already worked out the answer. "Why, Rose told me about you. We worked together at Torchwood. I'm not sure _how _you managed to get here, but I must say that I'm relieved that you did. If all Rose has told me is true- and I suspect it is- then we could use somebody like you right about now."

Jack let out a whoosh of breath, and Al and Hugo leaned on each other a bit, all three of them surprised.

Suddenly, the Doctor was more animated than he'd ever been. He grabbed Ianto by the shoulders and shook him impatiently. "Rose? _Rose _is here? I need to see her!"

Ianto looked surprised and very uncomfortable with the line of questioning. "She isn't here. Please, let me take you somewhere private-"

"_Where is she?" _The Doctor demanded in a tone of voice that booked no argument.

"I don't know," Ianto admitted. It sounded as though the words were forcing their way up his throat, as though there was nothing he'd rather say less, as though just _thinking _the words was liable to kill him.

"She's missing," the Doctor said flatly. His voice rising as he continued, "I broke every law in the Universe, tore through worlds, just to _find her _and now you're telling me that you somehow _lost her?"_

"There are things at play that you don't understand," Ianto protested. He lowered his voice slightly when he noticed that there were some passerby looking at him oddly.

The Doctor didn't seem to care. He shouted, "If Rose is missing, you need to go after her!"

"Doctor," Ianto said firmly. "I'm afraid I can't do that. We just don't have the resources and, to be honest, Rose is probably better off hidden, wherever she is. You see, regardless of what you've been expecting to find, right now, we are officially at war."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I promised you the Doctor, so here he is! I hope you enjoy and please let me know what you think! <strong>

**On a much more serious note, my heart goes out to those affected by the tragedy in Connecticut. There is nothing more to say and no way to rationalize it. The thoughts and prayers of the nation go out to you all.**

**tinyrose65 **


	13. Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey

"I suppose it all started with Rose," Ianto began, pouring tea for his guests. After startling them into obedience earlier, he had lead them to what was once the original Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and what was no a sort of headquarters for the resistance movement. After asking one of his coworkers to deliver some tea from them, he lead them all down the hall. Then, Ianto sat them down in a small room, dimly lit, with a rickety table and a few chairs.

Albus snorted. "It always does, it seems."

"Rose had been working at Torchwood for a while," Ianto began. He paused for a moment, smiling to himself, before he continued, "She was wonderful and it was a real joy working with her... until the first crack showed up."

"A crack?" Al pressed.

Ianto nodded. "It showed up in the wall at Torchwood- you know which wall I'm talking about, Doctor, of course you do- and despite our attempts to fix it, it kept coming back. Rose was fascinated by it, for some reason. She would spend hours just staring at it. She seemed convinced that it was something more."

"A way home?" the Doctor asked softly.

"I think that's what she hoped," Ianto admitted. "But I think she was also worried it was dangerous. Turns out she was right. You see, not long after it showed up, Rose began feeling weak, tired, with headaches. She got worse and worse until one day, while we were eating lunch near track, she fainted. To this day, I can barely believe what I saw, but this _light _started moving from the crack and towards Rose."

"What?" the Doctor snapped to attention.

"I know. It was all so quick that I barely saw it. It wasn't until that night when Rose and I snuck in to test the crack that we realized there was some sort of energy coming from it."

"Strange," the Doctor muttered.

"It gets even stranger. There was Void Stuff on the energy. I'm sure of it."

"Impossible," the Doctor denied. "Nothing can get through the Void and nothing can come _out _of it."

Ianto narrowed his eyes and stood up, excusing himself. The Doctor, Al, Jack, and Hugo were left to their thoughts. Ianto returned a few minutes later with some papers in his hand. He handed them to the Doctor.

"The test results."

The Doctor put his glasses on and flipped through them, eyebrows climbing higher and higher. "But- But-?"

"I know." Ianto said. "But there _is _Void Stuff on that energy-"

"Oh, yes, the Void Stuff is very interesting. But we knew it existed. The question is only how it _got _here. This energy, on the hand, that's a bit more complicated."

"You mean you _recognize it?" _Ianto demanded.

"They're Huon particles," the Doctor explained. "A very old energy that disappeared with the Dark Times of the universe. In my world, the heart of my ship is the only place they remain."

"What does that mean?" Jack asked.

The Doctor shook his head. "I don't know."

Seeing that the Doctor wouldn't be talking for the time being, Hugo asked, "So you were saying that Torchwood didn't know what the energy was?"

"Ah, no," Ianto said, once collecting himself. "They were smart enough to realize that it was important, though, and wanted to bring her in for questioning."

"That's what you meant when you said that she was better off missing," Hugo realized.

"Yes. The day Rose went missing was the day that more cracks started appearing and the day Torchwood started taking interest in your sister." Seeing their questioning looks, Ianto said, "Other cracks- identical to this one- began appearing all of over the place: Cardiff, Scotland, Norway-"

"Norway," the Doctor muttered to himself.

"New York, Bermuda," Ianto said. "Naturally, Torchwood was quite alarmed and the crack and Rose became a top priority. That didn't last very long, however. You see, that's when the dinosaurs started showing up. And the cat nurses. And the horses and carriages."

"It's like all of history is blending together," the Doctor said, aghast. "One big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff."

"If you like," Ianto said. Honestly, if it hadn't been for everything that Rose had told him about the Doctor, he would've doubted whether or not the Doctor could help them. But Rose had told him impossible, _mad _stories, including some of the Doctor's eccentricities. That did bring to mind the question:

"Doctor, how did you get here? Rose said it was impossible."

"Just solved an equation as old as the universe itself. Nothing important," the Doctor brushed off. _This _was far more interesting. "Let's get back to your tangled-up timelines. How did people react when mammoths starting showing up during their afternoon tea?"

Ianto seemed surprised at the Doctor's question. "Why, they panicked. Naturally."

"But they're not anymore," the Doctor said. It wasn't a question. "We just watched as dinosaurs tore through London and nobody made a peep."

"They always show up around this time," Ianto said. "And disappear a few minutes later. Most of the disturbances can be tracked and there tends to be a sort of pattern. It helps to keep people off the street if we give them a schedule."

"Right, sure," the Doctor said, sounding as though he were actually _disagreeing. _"You humans are an adaptable bunch, I'll give you that. But even you aren't _that _adaptable. There's something more going on. That bloke- the one who didn't like my name- mentioned an enchantment. Tell me more about that, now."

"That's just a theory," Ianto said hesitantly.

"Oh, I love a good theory!" The Doctor beamed. "Half of the things I do are based on pure conjecture!"

"It was Tom Riddle who put it forward, but there's no real way to have it validated-" Ianto stated wringing his hands a bit.

"_Tom_ _Riddle?" _Al gasped.

The Doctor immediately said, "A different Tom Riddle from our world. Same name, different everything else. Some sort of variance between parallel worlds."

"Has that ever happened before?" Jack asked.

The Doctor opened and closed his mouth, nothing coming out. "Huh," he finally croaked. "I don't think it has. Not to _that _degree, anyway. Wonder what that means. No _wonder _I kept you along, Jack! It's brilliant to have you back!"

Jack preened under the Doctor's praise until Ianto cleared his throat. The Doctor looked away from his friend and at Ianto.

"You wanted to hear about the enchantment theory?" Ianto asked.

"Oh, yes please!" The Doctor scooted forward in his chair and leant towards Ianto, hands clasped and one leg bouncing slightly. He was, for all intents and purposes, a little boy ready to hear his favorite bedtime story.

"People were panicking," Ianto said, starting where he had left off, "But then Saxon- our Muggle Representative- gave a speech. It seemed to calm everybody down and they just went on about their daily business as though nothing was happening."

"And you suspect magic was involved?" Jack asked

Ianto shrugged, unsure. "It seems a good a theory as any, even though Saxon is a muggle. There are some who think it might be a modified Imperious Curse, but none of our workers can detect anything and that sort of curse doesn't explain how people are somehow breaking it."

"That's what that man meant," Hugo realized.

"Some people weren't affected by Saxon's speech at all," Ianto added. "Torchwood workers, Aurors, some Ministry workers-"

"Anybody with even minor Legilimency training," the Doctor realized. "_Oh _that's clever. Very clever Saxon." Clarifying himself, the Doctor said, "It's not magic. It's a low level psychic field. Saxon must be emitting it from _somewhere. _Really, explains why my head feels so fuzzy. I can feel it. Thought it was because the TARDIS was unhappy we were in a parallel world, but no! It's this! Is this what it's like for humans all the time?"

"How are people breaking it, then?" Ianto asked.

"Survival instinct," the Doctor said without missing a beat. "Remember that one, Hugo? Al? Space ship over London on Christmas day? Blood control?"

"Don't know how I could forget it," Al snorted.

"So, people who aren't affected have enough psychic training to overcome the field. They start forming a resistance. The Ministry takes over Diagon Alley and spreads the word. Whatever power Saxon's got up his sleeve, he's still a muggle, and even he's not stupid enough to directly attack a wizarding stronghold like this. Slowly, survival instinct kicks in and wizards flock here to be treated. Is that about it?"

"More or less," Ianto admitted. "There are other safe-havens, too: Hogwarts, the Ministry itself."

"But aside from helping people, what are you _doing?" _Hugo asked.

"There's not much we can do," Ianto sighed. He rubbed his hand down his face, looking more tired than he had before. "We don't know what Saxon is planning or _how _he's doing it. We're worried that if we try to fight him, Saxon's control is powerful enough to turn other wizards against us. All we can really do is bide our time."

"What about Rose?" the Doctor asked. "You said Torchwood was interested in her. Why haven't they tracked her down?"

"All of the cracks," Ianto explained. "They interfere too badly with our equipment. I sort of wish they _would _find her. She was the first one to grow suspicious about Saxon."

The Doctor beamed. "That's Rose Weasley. Defender of the Earth. And now, we're going to find her."

"Shouldn't we do something about Saxon, first?"

"I came here to find Rose and that's what I'm going to do," the Doctor said darkly. Then, the darkness was gone and he was smiling again. "And, _anyway, _this is Rose we're talking about! She's probably in the thick of this whole mess anyway. We find her, we'll probably find- Eh. Who knows what we'll find."

"How do you plan on tracking her?" Ianto asked curiously

The Doctor began to rummage around in his pockets. "I know that Rose happens to wear her TARDIS key around her neck. If I know her, which I do, then she hasn't taken it off. I can use mine to establish a link to the TARDIS and route that to _her _key- but oh, darn it! I left my key in my other trousers!"

The Doctor gave a frustrated huff as he pulled both his hands out of his pockets, empty, and grabbed his hair. Captain Jack rolled his eyes and reached into _his _pocket, pulling out a small, silver key. He whistled to get the Doctor's attention and then threw the key at him. It was only the Doctor's fast reflexes that allowed him to catch it.

"Use mine," Jack instructed.

"You kept your key, Jack?" the Doctor asked.

"Of course I did. You didn't think I'd give up on you and Rose that easily, did you?"

"Nah," the Doctor said. He was doing something to the key using the Sonic Screwdriver, but he stopped to look up at his friend, wearing an affectionate smile. "You're very persistent. I learned that straight away."

Jack winked at him, then grew more serious. "So how is this key going to work, then?"

"The closer we get to Rose," the Doctor explained, shutting off his Sonic and putting it back in his pocket, "The hotter it gets." He frowned at the looks everybody was giving him. He said indignantly, "_What?"_

"That's a horrible idea," Hugo huffed. He grabbed the Sonic Screwdriver too quickly for the Doctor to protest. "Give it here."

"_My screwdriver!" _The Doctor squawked. Hugo rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, Doctor. I won't break it." Hugo grabbed his wand and conjured up a piece of parchment. He concentrated as he waved the wand and worked the spell. As he did so, he muttered, "I wish Rose was here. She was always much better at Charms."

"If Rose was here we wouldn't be having this problem," the Doctor grumbled, arms crossed. He was obviously still annoyed at having his Sonic Screwdriver taken away from him. It was moments like these that Al understood why Rose used to call him The Oncoming Pout.

Hugo finally finished and handed both the key and the parchment back to the Doctor. The key was the same as it had always been, the parchment was newly draw on. There were no labels, only lines, so it took the Doctor a moment to recognize it for what it was: a crude map, with their path laid out for them.

Jack, plucking his key out of the Doctor's hand, praised Hugo by saying, "Amazing."

"That's much better than running around London," Al said, smirking in the Doctor's direction, "Waiting for a key to warm up and cool down would've taken ages."

"It would've worked!" The Doctor protested.

"Not before we were- I don't know- beaten by vikings or something."

"Actually, the vikings are friendly. It's the Native Americans you need to worry about," Ianto said. The Doctor gave him a look that clearly said that Ianto wasn't helping.

"I wonder if they're the same ones we met earlier, Doctor?"

"They seem to have an odd hatred of men in suits," Ianto pointed out helpfully.

"Guess that answers that question," Jack muttered. Speaking more loudly, he asked, "Alright, Doc. What's the plan?"

"You and I go find Rose. Al, Hugo, you two need to stay here." When both of the young wizards went to protest, the Doctor explained himself. "Albus, you saw what it's like out there. It's a madhouse and I have no doubt they're short on healers. As for you, Hugo, you're familiar with this world, so you know. They blend magic and muggle technology. Your element. You'd be far more useful here then you would trying to find your sister."

It took another few rounds of convincing, but finally Al and Hugo settled. When Ianto assured the Doctor that he would help the two get settled, he and Jack left after being shown the way out of Diagon Alley.

They stopped just outside the Leaky Cauldron, examining the oddly drawn map. Finally, Jack pointed to his right and said, "I think it's that way."

"I think it's that way," the Doctor said, pointing in the opposite direction.

"_I _think that you're holding the map upside down," Jack corrected. The Doctor looked and saw that Jack was right. He fixed the map and then nodded, turning and heading towards the direction Jack had pointed in.

It took a few more false starts and one rather interesting run in with a group of hippies, but they finally made it to a tall, imposing building. The watched, hidden in the shadows of an alleyway nearby, as men and women entered and left the building, a guard standing watch, carefully scrutinizing each person who passed through.

"That must be Saxon's headquarters," Jack muttered.

The Doctor agreed. "And Rose is inside. Eighth floor, room three, looks like."

"What's your plan, then?" Jack asked.

"Get inside and find her," the Doctor said obliviously. Jack whacked him on the arm. That was clearly not what he had meant. The Doctor rubbed the spot where Jack had hit and said, "_And _I was hoping that you could distract the guard while I did it."

Jack beamed. "One distraction, coming up!"

The Doctor could only watch fondly as Jack sauntered off, his trademark swagger in his step, and struck up conversation with the guard. The Doctor _still _didn't know how he managed it (he himself couldn't even ask the woman he lo-_liked_ on a _date_), but within minutes, the ex-conman was quite happily kissing his new friend.

The Doctor moved out from the alleyway and slipped through the door, the guard too distracted by Jack's tongue, apparently. The Doctor shot Jack a thumbs up as the door shut behind him. He then found himself in a large lobby. He could see a woman at the front desk buzzing people in.

"Yes, hello," the Doctor said walking over. He held up his psychic paper."I'm here from the plumbing company. I heard there were some issues with a toilet-?"

"I didn't hear about anything," the woman said frowning.

"Well, I saw there _were _problems," the Doctor said easily. "More that there _will _be. We've been monitoring from headquarters and noticed some faulty pipes. Exploding toilets and the like. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

"No," the woman said, obviously panicked. She immediately pressed the buzzer and let the Doctor in.

"Thank-you!" he chirped. He placed the psychic paper back in his pocket as he headed straight for the elevator. He pressed the button for the eighth floor. As the doors to the elevator closed, he gave the frazzled receptionist a salute.

_Ding._

When the elevator reached its destination, the Doctor stopped humming along with the elevator music and stepped out. He took a random corridor (not really sure which way the room was, but hesitant to take out a map and be noticed by the other workers) and thankfully found himself headed in the right direction.

When he found room 803, he was surprised when he looked through the large glass windows and saw not Rose, but a man not much older than the Doctor (appeared to be). The man saw him and beckoned him inside. Never one to refuse such a tempting invitation, the Doctor opened the door and walked inside.

"Hello," he greeted.

"Ah, Doctor," the man greeted. "How lovely of you to join me. Please, do take a seat."

"Thanks, but no thanks," the Doctor said, immediately sensing that something wasn't right. There was something else, but he couldn't place it. Darn the telepathic field! It was stronger here (no doubt because the source was nearby) and was muddling his head. "I seem to be in the wrong place. Sorry to disturb you."

"You won't be going anywhere, I'm afraid." The man waved some people over and the Doctor suddenly found himself surrounded by guards. They were very _large _men, tall and imposing. They glared at the Doctor, but he seemed unaffected, much to their dismay. They made good money looking menacing and didn't help if the person they were supposed to be frightening didn't look all that scared.

The Doctor hummed. "You flatter me, really you do. It's been a while since somebody has found the need to have me surrounded by such muscle-y guards. But you seem to have me at a disadvantage. You know my name, but I don't know yours."

"Doctor, Doctor, Doctor," the man sighed, sounding horribly disappointed. He leaned back in his chair and put his feet on the desk. "I would've thought for sure you would've figured it all out by now. You've been here for at least a few hours, haven't you? But, oh well. You never were as clever as you thought you were- neither the version of you from my world or you yourself."

"Do we know each other?" the Doctor asked, narrowing his eyes and peering at the man closer, but no. He didn't remember him from anywhere. "Does my parallel version know you, then?"

"'Did' he know me," the man corrected. "He's- you're- dead now."

He said this bluntly, hoping to see the Doctor flinch. The Doctor didn't.

"You still haven't told me your name," the Doctor said instead.

"Always this odd fascination with names," the man breathed. "I see _that _hasn't changed. Yours is strange, certainly: the man who fixes things. Wonder why you chose that. As for mine, you always used to say that it was every therapist's dream."

The Doctor knew immediately who he was facing. He breathed a name he never thought he'd hear- _let alone say- _again. "Master."

"Oh, good! You see, then!" The Master said gleefully.

And the Doctor _did _see, because no matter what the Master said, he _was_ clever.

And, really, who else would've been so brilliant as to disguise himself as a muggle, set up a low level telepathic field, and try to enslave the human race. Well, maybe. The Doctor still had no idea what the Master was planning, but that was beside the point. He had been so _thick _not to nice, especially now that he could _feel _the Master's presence. Oh, he could make all sorts of excuses for himself (that the telepathic field had impeded his abilities, that the TARDIS was so uncomfortable that it really blocked out all else, that he had been in Jack's presence for several hours now), all true, but _really. _

He should've seen.

"I've missed the way you've said my name," the Master relished, breaking into the Doctor's thoughts. "It's been so lonely, you know. Since the Time War."

"The Time War happened hear as well?" the Doctor asked, clearing his throat. "Then how did you survive?"

"They brought me back to fight, the Time Lords did." The Master sneered. "And so I fought and I destroyed them _all. _And the war landed me here. On this backwater planet that you were always so fond of. Even after spending all this time among them, I still can't see the appeal._"_

The look on the Master's face told the Doctor everything he needed to know. "The silence. In your head. It's driven you mad." The Doctor said. He couldn't help but be filled with a deep sorrow for his former schoolmate. Even by Academy standards, the Master had been brilliant. And now that brilliance had been rusted, dulled by the pressures of darkness and evil that the Doctor knew lurked in the very deepest part of every man's soul.

"Not the s_ilence, _my dear Doctor," the Master hissed. "But the _drumbeats!_"

The Doctor shook his head. "There are no drumbeats."

"Yes, there are!" the Master screamed back. He took a deep breath to calm himself down. "And I wasn't the only one who could hear them. I broadcast them around the world."

"Hypnosis," the Doctor deduced. "I thought you were above party tricks."

The Master snorted. "I didn't need more than party tricks to convince these _humans _to follow me."

"Until your plan- whatever your plan is, as you still haven't told me- started falling apart. As did _time." _

"A minor setback," the Master shrugged. "A low level telepathic field and nobody even noticed. See?"

The Master gestured to the guards and the Doctor couldn't help but concede the Master's point. The two men had hardly blinked since the Doctor entered the room.

"Why bother with all this?" the Doctor asked. "What's the point? You always have a point- no matter how misguided it may seem."

"Thank-you," the Master said drily. "I live for your praise. As it happens, I wanted to leave Earth the moment I got here. When it become obvious that wouldn't be happening, I thought I'd settle in as Muggle Representative until it was safe enough for me to begin a more _global _quest for power."

"What changed?'

"Huon particles," the Master replied. "From that _pet _of yours. What's her name again? Oh, yes, Rose Weasley."

"Where is she?" the Doctor demanded, he leapt forward, but the guards pulled him back. He continued to struggle as he said, "_What have you done to her?"_

"Nothing," the Master said, sounding far too innocent. However, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small key. The Doctor recognized it as Rose's immediately. The Master let it dangle teasingly between his fingers. "If I were you, I'd be a bit more subtle in your tracking methods. Glowing TARDIS keys are a bit of a giveaway."

The look in the Doctor's eyes grew cold and he stilled. It was the look that civilizations and leaders and murderers and traitors and enemies had come to fear. It was the look of the Oncoming Storm, of the man who fought with angels and daemons and _won. _It was the look that promised retribution for all who were caught in it's wake.

Most importantly, it was the look of a man who had nothing to lose and nobody to stop him.

"If you have harmed her in _any _way," the Doctor said, but he didn't seem able to finish. It didn't matter. He didn't have to. His threat seemed obvious enough.

"I haven't been _harming _her," the Master tutted. "I've been _helping _her. The moment she entered this world, I sensed a new source of Huon Particles- knew about those, did you? Good for you!- and began draining them. You know how pesky those things can be, especially to fragile, little humans. Honestly, Doctor, my work might've saved her life!"

"While tearing this universe apart in the process," the Doctor said grimly.

The Master shrugged, unconcerned. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. Honestly, I have no clue where the cracks are coming from. Nor do I care to find out. I'll be long gone by the time they do any _real _damage."

"But what do you want with the Huon Particles?" the Doctor scowled, still in the grip of the (as he was now discovering) rather strong guards. "There's no use left for them unless-" The Doctor's eyes widened in realization.

"Unless I plan to power a TARDIS," the Master finished. "Very good. Of course, it's all pointless now. _Your _TARDIS is here and I have the key. Even better: I have a gateway to a parallel world, should I choose. That might be fun. Leave you and your little band stranded here as time itself collapses while I go off and have some fun."

"Oh, yea," the Doctor said nonchalantly. "Sounds like a ball."

"Glad you think so!" the Master beamed. "How about your friend? Does he feel the same?"

The Doctor craned his neck and watched as Jack was dragged into the room by another pair of guards. He gave the Doctor a rueful look.

"Sorry, Doc. I guess I'm not as good as distractions as I used to be. I'm a bit out of practice."

"Oh, honestly!" the Master said, wrinkling his nose in distaste. "He feels so _wrong. _ _How _can you possibly put _up _with him?"

Neither Jack nor the Doctor dignified this with an answer. The Master didn't seem to mind their newfound silence.

"Done talking, are you?" he shrugged. "Fine by me. I was growing bored, anyway. But really, this has been fun! Doctor, you and your friend will now be escorted downstairs to the holding cells-"

"You have holding cells here?" Jack asked incredulously.

The Master ignored him and stood up from his desk. He walked over to the Doctor until they were standing toe-to-toe, nose-to-nose, the Doctor still restrained. Neither of them looked away. Neither blinked...

Until the Doctor felt a hand reach into his pocket. He stiffened and the Master rolled his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself, Doctor. I got over my little crush on you _centuries _ago. No, no. I just wanted to make sure I had _this." _He held up the Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver, shrugged, and then put it in his pocket.

"There. Now you can't escape, despite your odd talent for doing so. Instead, you'll get to watch this world _burn, _much like I suspect you watched Gallifrey burn. How will that feel? To be responsible for the end of another world, even if it was never truly your own? To know you couldn't save it?"

All the Doctor could do was bow his head and screw his eyes shut. For once, unsure of what to say or what he was going to do.

"Not to mention," the Master continued, "I'll be taking your TARDIS! Talk about kicking a man while he's down, hm?"

One of the guards cracked a smile at the Master's sick attempt at a joke.

However, the Master contemplated the Doctor for a long moment. "I'll tell you what, though. I will give you one thing. A consolation prize." He turned to the guards. "Put them in the cell with the others, yes?"

The guards dragged both the Doctor and Jack away, down the corridor and past the prying eyes of workers. They didn't protest, however. They stood and watched for a moment, but then turned back to whatever they were doing, truly slaves to the Master's control.

Walking to the holding cells seemed to be the longest trip in the Doctor's life. Of course, he had never had an patience, anyway. Finally, a door (locked with a hand-scanner, key-card, and four digit access code) opened and Jack and the Doctor were pushed harshly inside. The Doctor stumbled as the door closed behind him.

He had just about regained his balance when he heard a voice from the other corner of the room- a voice he never thought he'd hear again. "Doctor?"

The Doctor _did _lose his balance this time and fell flat on his face. He heard footsteps come closer to him. From the point where his right cheek was laying on concrete, his face turned to the side, he saw two trainer clad feet stop near his head and somebody knelt down beside him. He looked up and found himself staring into the eyes of the woman he-.

"_Rose."_

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Another chapter! I combined two chapters to get all the explanations out of the way (The one downside to writing between parallel worlds? Getting everybody on the same page). So, now that's done!<strong>

** As always, read and review.**

** tinyrose65**


	14. Psychic Energy

Rose knelt down next to the Doctor, in complete and utter shock. This was the last thing she had expected. Just a few hours ago, her key to the TARDIS had started glowing. Before she had a chance to figure out what was happening, Saxon had come in.

"Give me the key," he had said. The two large men behind him were pointing their wands at her, and Rose wasn't stupid enough to try anything, so she did as he said.

Donna, growing impatient, had demanded, "Oi! Wacko! What's goin' on out there! You can't just saunter off and not tell us what's going-"

_SLAM!_

"-on," Donna had finished weakly as Saxon cut her off by leaving and slamming the door behind him. Saxon didn't come back after that, so Rose had spent the time getting Donna up to speed, answering her questions about the Doctor, and just enjoying her company. In all honesty, if the circumstances had been different, Rose had a feeling that she and Donna would be good friends. Now, all Rose was hoping to do was get herself and Donna out of this whole mess alive.

Then the door had opened and the Doctor had tumbled in and that was all she saw.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor, who had fallen on the floor, looked up at her and whispered her name. Before she could respond, he was scrambling to his feet and pulling her with him. He held her at an arm's distance for a minute just looking at her. Rose couldn't help but do the same. He looked so _different, _in some ways- more tired, older- but at the same time, he was exactly as she remembered.

And then, suddenly, he was pulling her in close and her face wound up buried in his suit jacket. She took a deep breath, breathing in the smell of tea and old books and _time _itself. Looking back, Rose could've sworn that the Doctor, who had his cheek pressed to the top of her head, pressed a kiss to her hair.

Rose reluctantly took a step back. "How did you get here?"

The Doctor let out a puff of air. "Well, do you remember the Skasis Paradigm?"

"Sure," Rose said immediately. "With Sarah-Jane at that high-school. What about it?"

"I solved it," the Doctor said, preening just a bit. He had always loved showing off to her- showing off to anybody, really. But mostly her. She'd get that look on her face and her eyes would twinkle and she would smile that tongue-between-her-teeth smile, just like she was doing now.

Rassilon, how he had missed her.

As for Rose, she believed the Doctor wholeheartedly. If anybody had the power to solve the paradigm, it was him. There was a small, romantic, part of her that told her that the Doctor had solved the Skasis Paradigm for _her, _but she quickly shut down that train of thought. Now was not the time for this.

Instead, Rose decided, now was the time to hug the Doctor some more.

So she did. And he did. And neither of them seemed inclined to move.

Donna, deciding to give them another few minutes, turned to the other man who had come into the room with the Doctor. He was very handsome and in a long, blue, coat.

"Donna Noble," Donna introduced. The man smiled at her and Donna had to admit that she felt slightly weak at the knees because of it.

"Captain Jack Harkness," he all but purred, taking her hand. Instead of shaking it, he brought it up to his mouth and planted a gently kiss on her knuckles. Despite herself, Donna felt herself growing very flustered.

"Think they're going to let up anytime soon?" Donna asked, as she came back to her senses. She jerked her head towards the Doctor and Rose, both of whom were still hugging each other as though the world was about to end (which, at the rate things we going, Jack considered, it might).

Jack shrugged. "They better. We need to get out of here soon."

Donna watched them and thought about everything Rose had told her. The younger blonde had never said it aloud, but Donna could see it written all over her face: Rose was in love with the Doctor.

So she said, "Ah. Give 'em another minute. I'm a sucker for a happy ending."

Unable to do anything other than agree, Jack watched his two best friends finally be together after months and months apart. Despite his happiness for them, though, it wasn't long before his Time Agent training kicked in, and he knew that they would need to get to work soon if they wanted to stop Saxon.

Reluctantly, he called, "Doctor?"

The Doctor stepped back from hugging Rose and looked at Jack with a raised eyebrow, as if to ask him what could possibly be so important that he had to interrupt his hug with Rose. Before Jack could explain that they needed to save the universe so the Doctor would have even _more _opportunities to hug Rose, he was interrupted.

_"Jack!" _There was a flash of blonde and suddenly he felt something slam into him. When he realized what had happened, he found himself with an armful of Rose Weasley. He laughed delightedly as he hugged her. Jack had missed her too.

When stepped away from the hug, her eyes were wide and slightly wet, but she was smiling, however tremulously. "I thought you _died. _The Doctor said-"

"I did die, doll," Jack admitted. "But you brought me back."

"I did?" Rose asked. "I don't understand."

"The Bad Wolf," the Doctor spoke up from behind her, looking more serious than he had a few minutes ago. "When you took the TARDIS into you, you brought Jack back to life. You just got a bit- overenthusiastic while you did it."

Confused, Rose looked back at Jack. He elaborated, "I can't die."

Before Rose could stammer out an apology, Jack was pulling in for another hug. "Sh, it's alright. I'm not mad at you. I could _never _be mad at you. Not for something like this."

"But what I did to you-" Rose stuttered. "I mean, what the Bad Wolf did to you-"

"Right now, Rose," the Doctor said, "I'm more concerned with what the Bad Wolf did to _you._"

Jack, who had missed out on this conversation in Saxon's office was confused. He asked, "Whad'ya mean, Doc?"

Rose knew what the Doctor was talking about. "You mean the Huon Particles."

The Doctor seemed surprised. "You know?"

"Your good friend the Master was nice enough to fill us in," Donna grumbled. That's when the Doctor noticed her. During the conversation between Jack, Rose, and the Doctor, she had sat back down on the cot, arms crossed.

He grinned. "Donna Noble! Blimey! I didn't expect to be seeing you so soon again!"

"You know her?" Rose asked. At the same time, Donna was saying, "Do I know you?"

"Yes!" the Doctor exclaimed. Then he paused to consider. "Or no? Maybe. Sort of. Oh, that's the one: sort of. I know your _parallel _version. But you're brilliant! You're the one who convinced me to come after Rose!"

"Aw, stop looking at me like that!" Donna snapped, seeing the grateful look on both the Doctor's and Rose's faces. "I didn't do anything. Rose has been telling me all about this parallel stuff. What the other version of me does there has nothing to do with me here."

"You're still brilliant," the Doctor said firmly. "Just you wait and see. I met you on Christmas Eve, you know. On your wedding day."

"I got married?" Donna asked, looking slightly excited.

"Actually, no. Turns out your husband-to-be was working with an alien trying to enslave the human race." Donna's face fell and the Doctor added, "Sorry 'bout that. He was using you as a vessel for Huon Particles."

"Like Rose," Donna said. Rose looked at the Doctor curiously. Jack, still slightly out of the loop, did too.

"Again, sort of." The Doctor said. "Same energy. Different everything else. You- well, not _really _you- were used as a vessel to contain the energy _on_ _purpose." _Adding, for Jack's benefit, "The Master is thankfully only taking advantage of what was already there to rebuild a TARDIS. Or at least he was. Now that he has my TARDIS key, he doesn't have to."

"He's going to get into the TARDIS?" Rose gasped. The Doctor said, "The TARDIS is a big girl and can take care of herself. Even if he does manage to get inside, she'll be able to hold him off for a while."

"Back to these Huon things," Donna said. She came up behind Rose and wrapped her arms around her shoulders protectively. "You said we should be thankful the Master's been using her. Why? It's been making her sick as a dog."

"If the Master hadn't been extracting the particles from her," the Doctor admitted, "It might've been even worse. Humans aren't meant to hold Huon Particles."

"Oh," Rose whispered.

"I promise Rose," the Doctor said seriously, reaching for her hand, "As soon as we get out of here and stop the Master, I will _fix _this. I burned up a supernova to say good-bye, then tore the worlds apart to say hello again. Do you really think I'd let something as little as Huon Particles tear us apart?"

Rose felt dangerously close to crying at that.

"First thing we need to do," Jack said, thankfully stopping her, "Is get out of here."

"How'd you suggest we do that?" Donna demanded, hands on her hips. "Rose and I have been stuck in here for days. You don't think we've tried to escape?"

"Of course you lovely ladies have," Jack said, easily placating Donna. "I just happen to have something you don't."

"If the next word out of your mouth is "pe-""

"Donna!" Rose blushed. Jack just laughed.

"Oh, I like you!" He exclaimed. "But now, that's not what I was going to say. Although now that you mention it, mine is pretty impressive. I can give you a demonstration later, if you'd like."

"Stop it," the Doctor ordered. Rose was too busily giggling to say anything, but she squeezed his hand to calm him down. It worked. He looked between their entwined hands and her several times, as though still disbelieving. Rose couldn't blame him. She kept expecting to wake up in bed, only to find out that this was all a dream, too.

"Oh, I don't mind," Donna assured him.

The Doctor muttered, "I do."

"As I was _saying,_" Jack stressed. He held something out in his hand. "I have this."

Rose blinked. "That's one of your-"

"Sonic blasters, yes."

"The Master had his men frisk us," the Doctor gaped. "Where were you hiding that?"

Jack just smirked. Donna was unable to stop herself from asking, "Do you have any other weapons hidden away?"

Jack shot back, "Why don't you search me and find out?"

Donna sighed, exasperated. "Merlin's snaggletooth, do you ever stop?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Jack snorted.

Rose giggled, too. "Merlin's _snaggletooth?"_

_"_Well, I'd say 'Merlin's pants', but he would probably try to get into them," Donna said dryly.

"Too late," the Doctor deadpanned. Rose laughed, recalling their conversation on the true Merlin. Donna and Jack, sensing that they were missing out on something, just looked at each other shrugged their shoulders. Jack was already used to the Doctor and Rose having inside jokes and Donna was starting to realize how things worked between the two of them.

"They always like this?"

"Oh, yea," Jack said. Rose and the Doctor blushed.

Clearing his throat, the Doctor said, "Well, alright then! Let's get out of here!"

"Right," Jack said, planting his feet and bracing himself. He pointed his blaster to the door and warned, "You might wanna stand back."

Donna couldn't contain her shriek as the the blast Jack shot out hit the door, sending debris everywhere. The Doctor did the best he could to shield the both of them the best he could, wrapping his arms around Rose and turning her away towards Donna, putting himself between them the door. Jack was gone before the smoke cleared, his blaster held in front of him in a defensive position.

Only a moment later, he stuck his head out from the side of the door (or what _remained _of the door). "We're in luck," he said. "The blast managed to knock out the guards."

"That was loud. It won't take too long before the Master's got some of his goons after us," Donna said.

"We better hurry then," the Doctor ordered. "Just- any idea where we're going? We're looking for the origin of the Master's psychic field."

"All his tech-y stuff was downstairs in the basement," Rose said immediately. The Doctor couldn't help but smile at her.

"'Tech-y stuff?' Is that the technical term?"

Rose giggled. "I learned from the best."

"Are we goin' or not?" Donna complained. The Doctor looked apologetic, but from the way his hand reached for Rose's and squeezed tightly, Donna doubted that he was entirely sincere. Grumbling to herself, she turned and headed towards the direction of the elevator, trusting that the others would follow her.

They did. Much to their surprise, they didn't meet anybody on their way to the elevator. Nobody dared to say anything, though, not wanting to jinx their luck. When they got into the elevator, before the Doctor could bemoan the loss of his precious Sonic Screwdriver, Donna was punching in the code for the basement. As the elevator began to descend, the Doctor couldn't resist saying, "Oh, Donna Noble! I told you! You are _brilliant."_

"Nah," Donna muttered, looking suddenly bashful. "I'm just a temp. I'm not important."

The Doctor looked at her seriously. "900 years of time and space, me. And you know what? I've never met _anybody _who wasn't important."

Unsure of how to respond to that, Donna instead interrupted, "We're here."

When they all got to the labs, they were exactly as Rose remembered: test tubes, computers, and equipment that Rose would never know what to do with. The Doctor seemed quite at home and headed straight to the computer, immediately turning it on. He let out a growl of frustration when he realized that there were security measures. He cursed fluently in Gallifreyan.

"I need my sonic!"he whined.

Donna, who had been poking around at the other end of the room, held something up. "What? You mean this thing?"

The Doctor let out an eager squeal and she handed him the sonic with a roll of her eyes. To Rose, she handed over her wand and said, "Saxon must've been keeping them down here."

The Doctor hummed in agreement as he used the sonic screwdriver to bypass security.

"Well?" Rose asked, looking over the Doctor's shoulder. "Did you find anything?"

Donna had a better question. "What exactly are you looking for?"

"I don't know," the Doctor muttered. "Something-_anything- _that will help me fix all these fractures in time."

"I thought you didn't know where they were coming from," Jack protested.

"No, I don't. The Master didn't seem to know either and- _Oh! Oh! Oh!"_

Jack raised an eyebrow suggestively. "You alright there Doctor?"

"The Master used a psychic field!" He said excitedly.

"Right," Rose said. "He mentioned that. What about it?"

"Quite a while ago," the Doctor said, typing rapidly, "On the planet of Hakol, there was this war machine. The Malus, it was called. It was rumored to have the ability to use psychic energy to connect time-zones. It was just a theory of course, never tested, but I _might _be able to convert this psychic field into psychic energy..." The Doctor trailed off.

"But you think you can do it?" Donna asked nervously.

"Only one way to find out!" The Doctor said. With a flourish, he pressed a key on the keyboard, while his other hand held on firmly to Rose. He hadn't let go since they'd all left the holding cell. Rose was grateful, since the moment the Doctor pressed the key, the ground began to shake.

The Doctor pulled Rose down to the ground, covering her as best he could, as debris from the roof began to fall. Rose wasn't really sure what happened next, because the next thing she new a blinding headache erupted behind her eyes and she was blinded by flashes of light. She heard screaming- she wished the person would stop screaming- and then she realized that it was her, and that the shaking had stopped, and that the Doctor had her head in his lap and was trying to talk to her.

"Rose, Rose. You're alright, Rose. Just breathe. It's over." The Doctor said, speaking as softly as he could and guiding her breathing. As Rose calmed down, she began to realize that the headache was gone and that the shaking had stopped.

"Did you do it?" She asked the Doctor. He nodded, his face still taught with worry. Rose smiled a bit, "That was easier than it usually is."

"Easy?" The Doctor asked, voice high. Donna, next to him, nodded emphatically and said, "You were screaming bloody murder!"

"It hurt," Rose said, trying to sit up. The world spun and her stomach churned, but then everything settled. The Doctor kept a supporting hand on her back regardless. Rose took in the faces of her friends. "None of you felt it?"

"No, doll," Jack said, shaking his head.

The Doctor told her, "We need to get you back to the TARDIS infirmary."

"What about the Master?" Rose protested, partially because she really _was _worried, but also because she never liked going to the infirmary.

"He's headed that way, anyway. If we're lucky, we can cut him off," the Doctor said, in a tone that booked no arguments. He and Jack each went to help Rose up. Much to her shame, she stood on slightly shaky legs.

"Al and Hugo are probably back in Diagon Alley, wondering where we are," Jack said urgently to the Doctor. The Doctor pursed his lips, thinking, as Rose's heart thudded loudly in her chest.

_Albus and Hugo are here?_

"I'll go find 'em," Donna volunteered. The Doctor shook his head and said that it would too dangerous.

Donna snorted. "Can't be any more dangerous than sticking with you three. Besides, I want to see if I can find my mum and my granddad."

"It's very brave, what you're doing, Donna," the Doctor said seriously.

Donna looked bashful for the first time in her life. "Yea, well. It ain't nothin like what you three do. Rose's been telling me 'bout it."

The Doctor shook his head to show that he disagreed with her words, but said nothing else on the subject. Instead, he asked, "You can meet us back at the TARDIS. Hugo and Al will know where it is."

After Donna left, the Doctor turned to Rose and Jack. "Back to the TARDIS we go, then! Allons-y!"

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Only one more chapter left after this! I hope you enjoy!<strong>

**tinyrose65**


	15. How It Ends and Where It All Begins

One of the harder things that Rose had had to accept when she was stranded in the parallel world was the idea that she might never see the TARDIS again. In some ways, this was almost harder to face than the idea of leaving behind her old flat. In the almost two years that Rose had been traveling with the Doctor, the TARDIS had become her home: her bedroom was there, the kitchen was always well stocked with her favorite tea, and she always made sure that the wardrobe room got a good work-out.

Every now and again, Rose and the TARDIS would even have a girl's night in: Rose would put on some movies (Rose preferred anything with Colin Firth, although the TARDIS seemed to love the Lord of the Rings films), do her nails, and gossip out loud. The Doctor had walked in on her once - her first Doctor, with his big ears and leather- and laughed a bit at her, but he had looked oddly touched.

After that, whenever Rose mentioned having a night in, he never complained.

So when Rose found herself alone in her small flat in parallel-London, it had been hard. She even caught herself talking to her ceiling a few times.

But now-

Rose found herself standing only a few feet from the TARDIS, mouth dry and palms slightly clammy.

After Donna had left them, she, the Doctor, and Jack had made a run for the TARDIS. They had been worried about more guards or being caught by Saxon, but it turns out their concerns were rather pointless. With the psychic field disabled (and time once again in one piece), wizards and muggles alike had come to their senses and realized what Saxon had done. The guards were too busy dealing with the angry mob storming Saxon's headquarters to notice as three figures slipped out a back entrance

The TARDIS, as it happened, was not far, which is how Rose found herself in the aforementioned position.

"Rose?" the Doctor asked her gently. Rose turned to him wordlessly. "Would you like to do the honors?"

The Doctor held out her key and she couldn't contain the small laugh of unadulterated joy that just bubbled out of her. When Saxon had taken her key, Rose had thought it was gone for ever.

(In hindsight, it was a rather silly thing to worry about, but as the Doctor had told her on many occasions, humans were a sentimental lot.)

Taking the key from him (and noticing that it was still hooked onto the chain she used to wear it around her neck), she approached the TARDIS door and placed the key in the lock. She raised her eyebrows as she went to turn it, surprised.

Rose looked at the Doctor. "It's already unlocked."

The Doctor's expression darkened and he walked passed her, pushing her gently aside and opening the door. Rose took her key out and followed him inside the TARDIS, Jack bringing up the rear.

When Rose entered the console room _(home), _she was surprised, or maybe not, to see the Master already standing there, by the rotor, looking for all the world as though there were no where else he'd rather be. Admittedly, Rose thought to herself, there wasn't much any of them could do to make him leave. Even Jack, who had closed the door behind him and pulled out his sonic blaster, wouldn't dare fire it in the TARDIS.

They were all at a stand-still.

The Doctor stood several feet away, looking murderous. This didn't surprise Rose. The Doctor had always been incredibly protective of the TARDIS. She was all that he had left of Gallifrey and the closest thing to family the Doctor had known in many years. Once or twice, Rose had heard the Doctor refer to her and the TARDIS collectively as "his girls," and the endearment, which placed her on the same level as the TARDIS in the Doctor's heart, had left her glowing for days.

The Master, to his credit, didn't seem too surprised to see them. "You broke out, I see. It took you long enough. Your parallel counterpart was always a slippery thing. No wonder you turned out the same."

"Give it up!" Jack ordered, from his position next to Rose. "Your game is over. The Doctor disabled your psychic field and fixed those cracks in time."

"Oh! Good!" the Master said delightedly. "I would've hated for the world to end just as things were getting fun. Tell me, did you ever figure out what was causing them? Your little trip here, perhaps?"

"No," the Doctor said firmly.

"Anyway, whatever it was started _before _the Doctor got here," Rose protested. "You were in Torchwood! You saw that first crack!"

The Master ignored her in favor of the Doctor. "How _did _you get here? I've been trying to access your TARDIS's memory banks, but she's not telling."

"She's loyal, my old girl is," the Doctor said. He stopped glaring at the Master for a moment to look affectionately at the console.

"Very old girl," the Master snorted derisively. "She's a what? Type-40? Those were ancient even when we first started out at the Academy."

"She's the very last of her kind," the Doctor said carefully. "Just like we're the last of ours."

"Not for long," the Master said. "As soon as I figure out how you managed to traverse universes, I will be on my way out of here."

"The Time Lords are gone in my universe, too," the Doctor warned. The Master shrugged, unconcerned.

"Fine, then," he said. "I'll go to another universe. Or another. They're bound to be Time Lords left _somewhere._ _ As soon as this ship tells me what I need to know!"_

The Master whacked the TARDIS console hard.

The TARDIS flashed her lights, clearly annoyed with all the hitting and tired of all the drama. Rose wasn't really sure why the TARDIS hadn't done it earlier (maybe she was waiting for _her_ Time Lord to come back), but the next thing she knew, a thick, leather-bound book was flying through the air and hitting the Master straight in the head. Rose could only watch, dumbfounded, as the Master's eyes rolled back and he fell, unconscious, onto the floor.

"Did that just happen?" Jack asked, as shocked as the rest of them.

"I told you the TARDIS was loyal," the Doctor said proudly. He walked over to the console, gingerly stepping over the Master's body, and began checking to make sure that the TARDIS was unharmed. "She'd never let the Skasis Paradigm go without a fight."

"One of the most evil men in the universes and he's defeated by a falling book?" Rose said, still unable to comprehend it all.

"Story of our lives. Pun _completely_ intended," the Doctor laughed. Then, he couldn't help but ask, "Which book?"

Rose picked it up and glanced at the cover. "Hogwarts: A History. Figures. The one book nobody ever reads, and it ends up saving the universe."

"Universe-s," corrected Jack idly. He has dragging the Master into a sitting position and leaning him against one of the coral struts. When he finished, he turned to the Doctor. He asked, "So, what now?"

Rose wasn't paying attention. She had opened the book to flip through a few pages, but instead of images of Hogwarts or long, boring passages about the moving staircases, all she saw was a single word, repeated over and over again.

_BAD WOLF._

Turn page.

_BAD WOLF._

Turn page.

_BAD WOLF._

"Doctor?" Rose said shakily, but it sounded strange to her own ears, long, drawn out. Slurred. At the sound of his name, the Doctor looked up, just in time to see Rose go completely pale. His smile dropped.

"Rose?"

Before he could approach her, Rose doubled over, her hands clenched tightly, as though she was about to be sick.

"Rose!" Jack and the Doctor exclaimed simultaneously. The Doctor reached out and grabbed Rose's shoulder lightly, but had to pull back his hand in surprise. She was burning up.

Then, Rose straightened and looked right at him. The Doctor felt his hearts migrate to his throat. This was not the Rose he knew. The woman standing in front of him was bathed in gold light, her eyes lit up from the inside. This was the Bad Wolf.

"You're impossible," the Doctor whispered.

"You taught me that nothing is impossible, my Doctor," the Bad-Wolf said. Rose's mouth was the one that moved, but it was not her who spoke. Jack's eyes widened as he realized that there was only one thing that this could be.

"She's the-"

"Yes." The Doctor said. "The Bad Wolf."

"I am not the Bad Wolf. I am Rose."

"You are not Rose," Jack said harshly.

"I am she and she is I," the Bad-Wolf (Rose?) responded. "We are one and we are the TARDIS. We live in her heart, just as she lives in ours."

"I don't understand," the Doctor said, mind spinning. "Rose is human. She'd burn."

"I am as human as you, Doctor," Rose said- and it had to be Rose, the Doctor realized. Who else said his name with that much affection or with that much (dare he say it? Yes...) _love. _"I destroyed the Emperor of the Daleks. I set the destiny of Captain Jack Harkness in motion and rewrote time. Do not think _this_ above me. And now, once more, I will grant you a gift."

Before Jack or the Doctor could stop her, she raised her hand in the Master's direction. A gold light enveloped him and the Doctor worried that Rose was destroying him, much like she had the Daleks. When the light settled, though, the Master was still there.

Only. Well. He was a baby. A newborn old, from the looks of it.

There wasn't much time for the Doctor to consider this new development because, at that moment, Rose fell to the floor in a dead faint. The Doctor ran to catch her, before easing her gently onto the floor. He checked her pulse, her temperature. Normal.

Jack, meanwhile, was fussing the new baby Master. The Master's clothes were obviously far too large, now, but Jack did manage to swaddle the baby in his old shirt, which was, incidentally, when he noticed something else.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor, who had picked up Rose and was about to take her to the infirmary, looked over at Jack and raised an eyebrow in silent acknowledgement.

"He's human."

The Doctor almost dropped Rose. He did drop his jaw, at any rate. Finally, he managed a rather unimpressive. "Huh."

"My thoughts exactly," Jack said, bouncing the baby slightly. "I'm going to go see if I can get this guy a bottle or something. You go ahead and make sure Rose is okay, alright?"

The Doctor nodded, glad that he wasn't the one giving the orders right now (for once, he didn't know _what _to think) and headed towards the infirmary. The TARDIS seemed to understand what he wanted because she had placed the infirmary right down the hall from the console and, once the Doctor got inside, had prepared all of the necessary equipment for him.

He gently placed her on one of the cots and hooked her up to machinery to monitor her temperature, heart rate, and breathing. Unsure really of where to begin, then, the Doctor took a small sample of blood and sent it through the TARDIS computer.

When Rose woke up about ten minutes later, he was still staring at the results.

"Doctor?" Her voice sounded normal to her ears, if a bit raspy. The Doctor, apparently hearing it, too, sprung into action. He disappeared from her side, which gave Rose a moment to realize that she was in the infirmary in the TARDIS. When the Doctor returned, he had a glass of water with him. He helped her sit up so she could take several, grateful gulps.

When the Doctor had no other choice but to pull the glass away ("You'll make yourself sick," he warned), Rose asked, "What happened?"

His expression suddenly guarded, the Doctor asked, "What do you remember?"

"The Master was in the TARDIS," Rose said, trying to recall. "He was hit with a book. Then it got all- well, blurry."

Rose grew nervous at the Doctor's look. "Doctor. What happened?"

He seemed to struggle to find the words. Finally, he settled for, "The Bad Wolf." When it became clear that Rose didn't understand, he elaborated. "On the Game Station, I thought I had saved you- taken out all traces from you of what you did. However, I failed to take into account your magic."

If Rose was confused before, that was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Remember how I explained that magic is nothing more than a manifestation of psychic energy?" The Doctor asked. When Rose nodded, he continued. "The TARDIS needs Huon particles to work- you've heard of those already, I think? Good- and no doubt, when you looked into her heart, some of those particles made their way onto you. As I said, I had assumed that I had taken everything from you, but it seemed as though a few of those particles- and it would only have to be a few, mind you- bonded themselves to your magic and have been slowly using that psychic energy to bond to, well, you. And your magic."

"I see," Rose said, even though, no. She didn't.

"Do you remember when you were little and used to do accidental magic?" The Doctor asked. Rose grinned fondly, thinking back to the time when she had made her bed fly.

"Of course, I do."

"It's like that. Upon entering the TARDIS, you were experiencing an emotional upheaval. Your magic- and the Huon particles- reacted."

"So is that going to happen _every _time I try and use my magic?" Rose questioned, aghast.

"No, no, no!" The Doctor assured her frantically, having his hands. Then he stopped and considered the matter more thoroughly. "At least, I don't think so. It might take a bit of practice, however. Like your magic did."

"And that's all it's gonna be, then?" Rose made sure. "Just my magic being strange for a bit? No other effects?"

The Doctor pursed his lips. "The Huon particles have forged a connection between you and the TARDIS. Ianto mentioned that you'd been having head-aches, fainting, that sort of thing. It's because you and the TARDIS was separated by universes. Now that you're together, you should be fine."

"Was it hurting her? The TARDIS, I mean."

"She's fine, too," the Doctor assured her, touched by Rose's concern for his ship. "Those particles coming in through the crack were a consequence of her trying to reach you. Makes sense, really. Finally explains those cracks in time."

"Those were because of her- me- us?"

"Well," the Doctor drawled, "The Master, too. The TARDIS made the cracks through the universe."

"And through time," Rose realized, "Because we move a bit faster, here."

"Right. But if he hadn't been taking the Huon particles from you, there never would've been more flowing through the crack- think of it as air flowing from high pressure to low pressure. That's what started creating more cracks. Although, to his credit, he was right when he said that he might've also been saving your life. Huon particles can do nasty things to humans."

"I thought you said I'd be fine!" Rose panicked.

"You will be," the Doctor argued. "You just- I mean, Rose."

He turned the screen he had been looking at several minutes ago to Rose. She frowned at what she saw. According to the information listed, she was looking at her own DNA, but it looked strange to her. To be fair, she was hardly an expert in the sciences.

"Is it supposed to look like that?"

The Doctor pulled the screen back towards him and slowly shook his head. "There have been minute changes to your DNA, Rose."

"Because of the Huon particles?"

"The Huon particles," the Doctor said softly, "It looks like, were making you ill, despite the Master's _assistance. _Your magic and these particles are closely linked, though, so together they sort of reworked your DNA a bit. Made you capable of holding the Huon energy within you."

"So I'm not human anymore?" Rose's voice rose a bit in pitch.

"Only on a molecular level. Nothing too fancy, really. You might experience a few minor changes. Less sleep, longer life span, stronger immune system-"

"What was that?" Rose swung her legs over the edge of the cot so she could more fully face the Doctor. He put on his best "innocent" face. Rose wasn't buying it.

"Stronger immune system?"

"Before that," Rose ordered crossly. He shifted, like a little boy being scolded by his mother.

His voice was far more higher pitched when he said, "Less sleep?"

"In the middle, Doctor." Rose was getting impatient.

"Longer life span?" He said this all in one breath. If Rose wasn't so used to decoding Doctor-speak, she might've missed it. Rose felt her palms grow clammy as she realized the implications of what the Doctor said.

"How much longer?"

"I can't be certain," the Doctor hedged. "It looks as though the decay of your cells has slowed to a rate that should stop your aging for at least a few hundred years." He looked at her gobsmacked expression. "I am so sorry, Rose."

Rose's shock and fear and everything else was replaced by two emotions in that instant: anger and a small bit of insecurity. She whacked the Doctor hard in the arm, hoping that might knock some sense into him. "Don't apologize. It wasn't your fault and you _saved _me, like you always do. I'm not- I'm not mad, Doctor. Surprised, shocked, a bit confused. Not mad, especially not at you."

"You should be mad," the Doctor said bitterly. "Nobody deserves to live such a long life and watch their family die. Do you understand that, Rose? They'll die and you'll keep on living."

"I won't be alone," Rose said, voice shaking. "Even after my mum and dad and Al and Hugo are gone. I'll miss them, all of them, but I'll have Jack and you."

The Doctor looked at her strangely. She added, quickly, "Unless you don't want me to stay."

"Of _course _I want you to stay!" He protested. For a moment neither of them did anything. Looking back, Rose wouldn't say who started it, but the next thing she knew, the Doctor's lips were on hers and he was wrapping his arms firmly around her waist.

She shifted onto her knees on the cot, so she could be about the same height as he was and tangled her hands in hair. He let out a happy sigh and she giggled into the kiss. Eventually, though, Rose had to breathe (it seemed as though her respiratory system was not something that had changed) and she pulled back.

"We've got an evil Time-Lord on the TARDIS," Rose said panting. "Now is really not the time to be doing this, don't you think?"

"Actually," the Doctor said, "We've got a baby human on the TARDIS, so yes. This is the perfect time to being this."

He leant in to kiss her again and she let him. After a moment, she pulled back.

"What do you mean?" she demanded through narrow eyes.

"You turned the Master into a baby."

Rose gaped. "Why would I do that?"

"Infinite knowledge of time and space," the Doctor pointed out. "You probably knew something we didn't."

"Well, whatever it is, I've forgotten it now."

The Doctor looked at her oddly for a moment. "Have you forgotten that day on the beach?"

"I don't think I can ever forget that day," Rose said softly.

"I never got to finish my sentence."

"You don't have to."

"But I want to. For so long, Rose, I've been afraid of telling you because I could feel our time together growing shorter. It wasn't until it ran out all together that I realized my mistake. But now, Rose, now we have all the time in the world. And I am not going to waste a second of it."

"Okay." Rose said, smiling softly at him.

"Rose Weasley, I love you.

"Quite right, too." Rose laughed with a watery grin on her face.

The Doctor kissed her again. Rose hoped that this was some sort of indication about how the much of their time on the TARDIS would now be spent. Some voices from down the hall made them separate. Donna's distinct screeching could be heard even through the almost soundproof walls of the TARDIS.

"Looks like the gang's all here," the Doctor said. He cleared his throat and helped Rose off of the cot. "Let's go see what they're up to, shall we?"

"Sounds good to me," Rose said laughing and taking the Doctor's hand.

When Rose and the Doctor entered the console room, Jack looked up at them from where he had been talking to a shell-shocked Ianto. He smirked when he saw their held hands. They had always held hands, of course, but there was something different about them now, which made Jack quite happy. The fact that the Doctor had let Rose out of the infirmary was also something that pleased him, since it meant that Rose was fine.

Jack watched as Rose noticed who else was on the ship: Al and Hugo; Jackie and Fred and their son; Ianto and Donna. She let go of the Doctor's hand and headed straight for her cousin and brother and threw herself at them. Together they joined in a group hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay," she told them. Her words came out muffled against Hugo's shirt. She felt, rather than heard, when Albus answered back. His chest rumbled, even if she couldn't make out the words, as he most likely repeated her sentiments. She stepped back and turned to Ianto. He smiled at her and opened his arms and she went into them, hugging again tightly.

"Is Lisa alright?"

"She's fine," Ianto assured her. He let go and she straightened herself up. "Whatever your Doctor did, the cracks are gone. People are themselves again. We may not be alright now, but we will be."

Rose blushed. "He's not my Doctor."

"Yes he is," everybody chorused, all except for the Doctor who said, "Yes I am. Well- you and the TARDIS share me, I suppose."

Captain Jack waggled his eyebrows. "Kinky."

"What happens next?" Donna asked, once the silence descended.

The Doctor let out a whoosh of air as he mulled the matter over. "We need to get back to our own universe soon, I suppose. What happens in this universe is up to all of you."

"Actually, Doctor," Fred said, stepping forward, "I don't think it is. Jackie and I have been talking and, if it's alright, we'd like to head back with you. Our family is gone. Rose is leaving. There's nothing here for us anymore."

The Doctor seemed to consider the offer. Finally, he warned, "You'd be starting off with nothing-"

"George and I started off with nothing the last time," Fred shrugged. "I'm sure Jackie and I can manage."

"You won't be able to contact George and in my universe," the Doctor added. "He doesn't know about any of this and, even if he did, he's a different George. Not your brother. You'd have to stay somewhere remote, where nobody who knew The-Other-Fred could find you. Perhaps in a different century or planet-"

"Cardiff, in the 21st," Jack said. Seeing the incredulous glances between shot his way, Jack said, "I hear they're starting up a new Torchwood branch there. They could use somebody to make sure they don't get into trouble."

The Doctor nodded to show that this plan was acceptable to him and looked over at Fred to hear his answer. Fred and Jack exchanged glances and then looked down at their son. Fred finally nodded.

"That sounds good," he breathed, relieved. Then he turned to Ianto with a proud look on his face. "They'll need somebody to lead this branch of Torchwood, you know."

Ianto's face a picture, Rose thought. He pointed to himself. "_Me? _But I'm a muggle."

"You're brilliant!" Rose protested.

"And things are about to change here," the Doctor pointed out. "Can't you feel it?"

"Go on then," Donna prodded. "Take it! Don't be thick. That job'd be a piece of cake, I'd bet!"

"I am not thick," he protested. "But if you think working at Torchwood is so easy, why don't you come and see for yourself?"

"You don't have the power to hire me," Donna scoffed.

Ianto narrowed his eyes. "Yes, I do! I am hereby accepting Fred's offer. First order of business: Donna Noble, come and work for Torchwood."

"Fine," Donna said smugly, "But I ain't nobody's assistant. I want a proper job."

"Deal," Ianto said. Then he paused. "Wait. What just happened?"

"I think you were just tricked," Hugo snickered.

"I think that's business settled then," the Doctor said. He, like the others, seemed unwilling to break up this newfound friendship. Donna gave both the Doctor and Rose a large hug. For Jack, though, she had reserved a large smack on the lips. He laughed as she finished bidding goodbye to everybody else.

If her eyes were shining more than usual when she told Ianto that she'd be waiting for him outside, nobody mentioned it.

Ianto also went ahead and bid his goodbyes, saving Rose for last.

"This is it, then," Rose said with a slight laugh. Ianto smiled at her.

"I guess so," Ianto said.

"I'm gonna miss you," she said. "Take care of Ianto Jr., yea?"

"Actually, it's a girl," Ianto said proudly. "The healers down at Diagon Alley told us only yesterday."

"Congratulations," Rose offered. "I wish I could be here to watch her grow up."

"I wish she would get to meet her godmother," Ianto said. Rose gasped and he grinned at her surprise. "You've helped us so much since you've been here. You deserve the title."

Once again, Rose found herself throwing herself at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck. He squeezed back and, after a minute, he was the one to let go. He gave her one last salute (a joke about their old positions, her as the head of the team and he as the assistant, but it had never been that way and he knew it) and left.

"You okay?" Al asked her. He was leaning against a coral strut. Rose nodded, so turned to the Doctor. "Home?"

"Of course," the Doctor said.

"Wait!" Rose said suddenly, as the Doctor headed over to the console. He looked over at her apprehensively. She didn't understand why, at first, until she realized that he was worried that she had changed her mind. Well, she couldn't let that continue. "The Master mentioned his TARDIS."

"Oh, she's long gone, Rose," the Doctor said softly. "I can't feel her in my head."

"The Master was so adamant that she was alive," Rose whispered.

"He was driven mad," the Doctor said. "Or maybe he was always mad, from the moment he looked into the Untempered Schism."

"Speaking of the Master," Hugo asked, "Where is he now?"

"I gave him a bottle and put him to sleep," Jack said. Judging by their expressions, Rose assumed that Jack had filled everybody in the TARDIS in while she was in the sick bay.

"What are we going to do with him?" Rose asked the Doctor. The Master was his friend (sort of), so it should be his decision.

"I've been thinking about that," the Doctor said. "We can bring him back to our world. Drop him off in an orphanage and let some people raise him well and check in on him every now and then, make sure he stays out of trouble."

"I think that's an excellent plan." Strangely enough, it was Fred who said this. "Everybody deserves a second chance."

"Right," the Doctor said. "Let's get out of here before something else goes wrong, shall we?"

With that, the Doctor launched them into the vortex and through the universes.

Jackie and Fred left first, leaving with their son in Cardiff. The Doctor gave some Earth money (when Rose asked him where he had gotten it, he mentioned something about using his sonic on an ATM a few weeks back) and bid them farewell.

Then, Al and Hugo were dropped off with the promise that the Doctor would bring Rose back as soon as they were done dropping off the Master. When they landed wherever the Doctor had taken them, Jack left to go get the Master.

While Jack went to go wake up the baby, Rose stood next to the Doctor and asked, "Where are you thinking of putting him?"

"I like 1926," the Doctor said with a shrug. "New Year's Eve. There's an orphanage in London called Wool's Orphanage."

The name struck Rose for some reason, but she couldn't place why. At that moment, Jack returned carrying a swaddled Master. Rose and the Doctor got their first good look at him. He was pink and tiny. A newborn.

"He looks familiar," Rose said.

"All babies look the same," the Doctor pointed out. "How can you tell?"

Rose sputtered. "Don't be rude!"

"He's a baby! It's not like he understands what I'm saying!"

"Let's just get this over with," Jack grumbled. He and the Doctor stopped only to put their coats on from the coat hanger that hung by the door, while Rose put on her cloak. She was grateful that she had because as soon as she stepped outside, she was hit in the face with what felt like a bucketful of freezing water.

It was pouring rain and dark. Jack wrapped the baby more tightly in his blankets. They began heading down the street towards where the Doctor had said the orphanage was. The streets were deserted, but squinting through the rain, Rose managed to make out an odd lump on the sidewalk. She ran over to it was shocked to see that it was a woman wearing tattered clothes and bleeding profusely. She didn't seem to know what was going on around her.

Rose knelt down and tried to find where she was hurt, but she didn't seem wounded anywhere. She was wearing an old style cloak and was no doubt a witch.

"Doctor!" Rose called back. The Doctor, no doubt hearing the urgency in her voice, ran towards her. When he saw the woman bleeding on the ground, he sprang into action. Rose stepped back to let him work. Jack stepped up next to her and handed her the baby. She took it and he leant down to the help the Doctor.

Despite their best attempts, it was in vain. In the end, on that street in the pouring rain, they were left with not one, but two, dead bodies.

"A miscarriage," the Doctor said softly. Rose conjured up another blanket and knelt down next to him. "A baby boy."

She took the dead baby and wrapped him in the blanket. She was crying at this point, holding both babies, but the rain made her face wet and she couldn't distinguish it from the tears running down her face. The Doctor wasn't crying, but he was as serious as she had ever seen him. She knew he couldn't stand it when he couldn't save somebody.

"She was very young," Jack said. He pulled the woman's grimy hair from her face and straightened her tattered cloak.

Her expression was peaceful, but that wasn't what made Rose gasp.

"I know her," Rose muttered. "I mean, I recognize her."

"Who is she?" Jack asked.

"It's Merope Gaunt," Rose said. "It's Voldemort's mum. This must be the day she took him to the orphanage, and the day she died. I don't understand, though. Her baby..."

Rose paused and looked down at the two babies in her hands. One was fair haired, reminding her of the Tom Riddle back in the parallel universe. He looked nothing like the pictures of Tom Riddle Rose had ever seen.

The other baby, though, the Master- _he _was dark haired and suddenly Rose realized what had happened and what she needed to do.

"Doctor," she said as calmly as she could. Her voice shook only barely. "Take her baby."

The Doctor took it unquestioningly, but watched, confused, as Rose stood up. He followed her and looked down at her through the rain. "Rose? What's wrong? You look as though you've seen a ghost."

Neither he or Jack had realized yet.

"The war against Voldemort has to happen, right, Doctor?" Rose asked.

The Doctor said slowly, "Yes. It's a fixed point. One of the biggest there is."

"How can it happen when Merope's son, Tom Riddle, is dead?" Rose asked. The Doctor looked down at the baby with his lips pursed. "I'll tell you," she continued. "Because Tom Riddle as we know him- Voldemort- was not Merope's son. He was the Master."

"Rose," Jack began, aghast, but Rose spoke over him before he had a chance to say anything else.

"This has to happen," Rose said. "It's always happened like this. Don't you understand? That's why there was no Voldemort in Fred's World. Tom Riddle was never really Voldemort and we took the Master here." Rose looked down at Merope and her blonde hair and her dark colored cloak. "You don't have to do this," the Doctor denied. "We can find another way-"

"No," Rose protested. "I remember. They found Merope's body the day after Riddle was dropped off. It was me who takes the baby to the orphanage and tells them to name him Tom Marvolo Riddle. It always was. I can do this. I _have _to do this. Just, please. Meet me back at the TARDIS."

Jack and the Doctor exchanged glances in the dark. Jack finally said, "Alright, doll. We'll see you in a few."

Rose nodded and turned, holding the Master (Tom?), and headed toward the orphanage. She could feel the Doctor's and Jack's eyes on her until she turned the corner. She could see, just across the street, Wool's Orphanage. She pulled her hood over her face before she made her way to the doorstep.

Taking a deep breath, she knocked on the door.

A moment later, the door was opened by a woman. "Goodness me! Can I help you?"

Rose didn't hesitate in thrusting the baby toward the woman, he took it, surprised. "Take care of him. Call him Tom Marvolo Riddle, after his father."

Before the woman could protest, Rose was running, almost tripping on the slicked steps in front of the door. She ran and and ran and ran, lungs burning, but she couldn't stop right now. She couldn't think about what she'd just done, the fate she had just handed to so many of the people she'd loved to. The number of people she had just indirectly sentenced to death.

The TARDIS, bright blue even in the darkness, called to her like a beacon and she rushed through the doors and slammed them behind her. She shrugged her cloak off and let it fall against the floor, ignoring the concerned looks of the Doctor and Jack. Rose took a few steps and leaned against a coral strut.

"Oh, Rose," the Doctor said. He pulled her into a tight hug and she buried herself in it, realizing only just then that those sobbing sounds were coming from her. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry, too," Rose sniffled. She wasn't really sure what she was apologizing for and it didn't really make her feel better, but she repeated it anyway. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!"

"You have nothing to be sorry for," the Doctor muttered. He led her down to the floor so they could both sit down, which was most likely a good idea since her legs felt weak after her long sprint.

"Merope's baby is in the infirmary," Jack said quietly, sitting down next to them. "We can skip forward a week or so and bury him next to his mother. How does that sound?"

"Sounds like a plan," Rose muttered. For some reason, that, at least, made her feel better. At least Merope would get to be with her son, wherever they were.

"Will you be alright?" Jack asked hesitantly.

Rose thought about for a moment, then nodded. "Yea."

"Do you want to go home?" the Doctor asked.

Rose couldn't help the bubble of laughter that escaped from her then. "You idiot. I _am _home."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: So yea. That's it! I won't lie. There were moments that I thought this story would never get done, but I did it! And yes. I know I took some liberties with the true circumstances of Merope Gaunt's death, but I got the VoldemortMaster idea way back when I was writing ****_Clarke's Third Law _****and this seemed like the only plausible way to make it work. Hopefully you don't mind :)**

**As for the future of this series, I am planning a ****_Clarke's Second Law _****that will be relatively short and fluffy and just meant to cap everything off. However, I am still figuring out exactly how I want to do that and, in the meantime, I have a few other projects on my plate (including a Doctor Who/Avengers crossover!). I will probably post a one-shot for this series in the meantime, so keep an eye out.**

**Until next time!**

**Tinyrose65**


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